A SOCIOLINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION OF CODE-SWITCHING PRACTICES OF ESL STUDENTS OUTSIDE EFL CLASSROOMS Текст научной статьи по специальности «Языкознание и литературоведение»

A SOCIOLINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION OF CODE-SWITCHING PRACTICES OF ESL STUDENTS OUTSIDE EFL CLASSROOMS

SHEHROZ MUKHTAR1, MAQSOOD AHMED2, ABDULLAH MUKHTAR3, CHOUDHRY SHAHID 4, WAQAR

JAVAID5

IDepartment of English University of Sialkot (PhD Scholar).

shehrozj awanda@g mai l.com 2Department of English University of Sialkot (PhD Scholar). [email protected]

3Department of Linguistics and Communication University of Management and Technology, Sialkot. (PhD

Scholar). [email protected] 4Associate Professor, Department of English University of Sialkot. [email protected] 5Department of English University of Sialkot (M.Phil Scholar). [email protected] Corresponding Author: Dr. Choudhry Shahid Mahmood [email protected]

Abstract

Code switching is a common phenomenon, generally observed in multilingual communities across the globe. A critical look at code switching literature reveals that mostly code switching has been studied in classroom in learning and teaching context while code switching outside classroom in settings such as café, hostel and so on have been the least explored areas. Current research investigated the reasons for code switching in the interactive practices of students and their perceptions regarding the same outside the classroom settings. This paper is the study of the common practice that prevails in the Universities of Sialkot that bilinguals mix two languages when they speak in different class room situations. In Pakistani classrooms where Multilingual are in abundance i.e. they can speak two or more than two languages at the same time, the code switching or language combination is very common. The teachers of Sialkot switch from one language to another consciously or unconsciously while teaching English in the class rooms. This phenomenon has not been explored in the Sialkot's teaching context. In Sialkot private educational institutes does not encourage code-switching whereas the public or government institutes use it frequently. The crux of this research is to investigate and identify the importance of code switching by taking its users in consideration. Survey research method and survey questionnaire will be used to get exact data from teachers and students. We will try to highlight the functions and importance of code switching in foreign language classrooms of Sialkot and will explore why this trend is emerging in Sialkot.

Key words: Code switching, Sialkot foreign language class rooms, bilingual context, use of L1, Importance of L2.

INTRODUCTION

During the last decade code-switching (CS) has gained impetus, which can be gauged from the fact that since 2005, The Linguistics and Language Behavioral Abstracts (LLBA) electronic databases identified nearly 1800 matches to CS (Nilep, 2006). Most of the studies on CS fall into main two categories: grammatical and sociolinguistics.

1. Researchers who approached CS from grammatical perspective focused different structural/grammatical issues such as morphological, syntactic and morpho-syntactic constrains, nature of grammar governing CS. (MacSwan, 1999; Chomsky, 1995; Joshi, 1985; poplack, 1980).

2. On the other hand, the sociolinguistic approach focuses on the functions and meanings of CS. 1. Macro-sociolinguistic studies of CS, 2. Micro-sociolinguistic studies of CS.

The macro approach takes CS as collective bilingual phenomenon governed by the norms and

regulations of the community concerned. Studies in this category view CS as orderly and stable phenomenon (Heller, 1988; Blom & Gumperz, 1972; Fisherman, 1972). Fishman (1972) elaborated that in bilingual/multilingual communities mostly each variety has a specific domain of use. The uses of these varieties are predetermined. Therefore, the speakers have very little choice of their own. Their choices are determined by the social and cultural norms of their communities. He added that the topic of interaction is of great importance. Different varieties are associated with Review of Economics and Development Studies Vol. 5, No 3, 2019 498 different topics. Some topics are handled better in one variety than the others. For examples, most of the formal topics are tackled by the formal/standard varieties, while non-formal situations demand for non-formal varieties. In this sense, the use of a language/variety can be predicted if one knows the situation/topic ahead of its actual use.

Code Switching is playing effective role in teaching English as a foreign language. The scientific study of code switching has been ignored to some extent in the past but fortunately now this study is under consideration in Pakistan (Anwar 2009). How languages are different, how language varies over time and between different societies, how language is learn and how language is used for human communication, all these facets of language fall into the domain of linguistics(Milroy and Muysken 1995).Code switching is important because many linguistics argue that code switching creates problems when L2 learners use L1 in the foreign language class rooms (Turnbull 2001). However, none is denying the importance of L1 in learning L2, but this question is debate-able that how and which function of the code switching should be integrated in the practices of foreign language classrooms (Banatao and Malenab-Temporal 2018). On which format the code switching should be allowed and why it should be banned (Mahbub-ul-Alam and Quyyum 2016).Unfortunately, in Sialkot the educational purpose of code switching is ignored and it is time to develop the understanding of bilingualism classroom discourse. Furthermore, It is believed that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in many aspects

(Hofweber, Marinis et al. 2019).In this paper we will explore the functions of code switching in Sialkot bilingual classroom context.

LITERATURE REVIEW

(Barandagh, Zoghi et al. 2013) suggested that in Iranian Foreign English Language classrooms the teacher used English for a limited portion only while they employ Persian for all major activities. Teacher switched code consciously and sometimes the code switching was as a response to the question of the learners. Switching to the mother language made the task easy for the students(Barandagh, Zoghi et al. 2013).The teacher moved from one activity to another in case the student could not recall any suitable word for it in L2. Teacher switched from L2 to L1 on need basis. Teacher ignored the education and mental level of all students and utilized code switching while focusing on the weak student in particular. The code switching is need based either it is the need of the teacher for explanation or the need of the student. Code switching is not serving all the participants equally, how the mentor utilized code switching for some activities and ignored the same for a number of activities? How he decided which dialect for code switching is more suitable for the participants?

(Chowdhury 2012) has suggested that code switching performs very important role in language classrooms; the L2 is mainly used to maintain discipline and to instruct the students. The important issues are highlighted and the attention of the students is gained using L1. In large class rooms the students are not able to understand complex concepts and code switching becomes very vital in that case. Not only this, it can serve significant effective function in language classrooms where teachers can interact with their students efficiently (Flyman-Mattsson and Burenhult 2009, Chowdhury 2012)suggested that code switching can easily help the students who are trying to adjust themselves in L2.(Chowdhury 2012) suggested that code switching helps in improving the class discipline, the use of code switching for discipline maintainers may affect the learning of students. The researcher has emphasized that he has employed code switching for discipline maintenance. Banning of mother tongue or using code switching in language class rooms is equal to depriving the students from the unique linguistic treasures(Dar, Akhtar et al. 2014).

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(Gulzar and Qadir 2010) Suggested that code switching improves the performance of the teachers and it can be useful teaching technique. It is in contrast with the competency of the teacher, a teacher who is unable to deliver his complete lecture in L2s may not attain linguistic proficiency in his life. (Gulzar and Qadir 2010) have suggested in total eleven reasons and claimed that bilingualism is the part and parcel of Pakistani classrooms. The researcher suggested that the learners will not be able to learn complete language in L2 and the use of L1 is inevitable. Hence he has completely ignored the role of L1 that is essential for the average minds. History of Code Switching

Code switching is not a new or recent phenomenon, Code switching is in practice since last decade of 19th century, in the early era of 20th century progress was made in the realm of code switching (Ronjat 1913, and later Leopold 1939-49). It is pertinent to mention that code switching remained veiled till the second decade of 20th century and no inquiry was initiated in this field i.e. what is the reason of employing code switching in language teaching or why teachers employ this technique while teaching second language? 1n 1972 Blom and Grumperz wrote an article on Norwegian dialect and after this research many researchers started writing on this topic. In 1940 many scholars regarded code switching as a sub standard form of language usage. Later on in 1980 many researchers proved that code switching is essential while teaching second language.

Types of Code Switching:

We may found code switching in following 03 types.

• Inter-sentential CS: In this type of code switching, code switching happens in the boundaries of the Sentence.

• Intra-sentential CS: Code-switching happens in the middle of the sentence.

• Extra-sentential CS: In this type we include words/Tags/Tokens from another language.

Reasons of Using Code-Switching

Reasons for Code Switching

14%

This figure taken from (www.hub.com) shows the reasons of code switching in Pakistani classrooms. Objective of the study

The need of the project is to examine the importance and the functions of the code switching in Sialkot's bilingual English classrooms. We will explore prevailing types of code-switching i.e. inter-sentential and intra-sentential code switching and their importance in the English class rooms of Sialkot. How code-switching is benefitting the students and teachers in the long run? We will further explore the utility of code switching for the teachers in foreign language classrooms and will evaluate different trends of mentors about the utility of code switching. Research Questions

1. Why do the students get engaged in CS outside classroom?

2. What are the common perceptions of students about CS outside class?

METHODOLOGY

The study was conducted in a public sector universities in Sialkot, Pakistan. The University is located in Punjab, a province situated in the North East of Pakistan. Punjabi language is the dominant and native language of majority of the people in the province. Broadly speaking Punjabi is mostly in the domestic and social settings while English is mainly used as the medium of instruction in higher educational institutes. In addition, Urdu being national language of the country is also used by most of the speakers. In such multilingual environment the emergence of CS is a natural phenomenon. I have employed survey and interview technique as a primary source in my research. The main data of this research was collected using these two techniques whereas scholarly published articles on the topic of code-switching were considered as a secondary source. The populations of 1000 students were selected for this research. Majority of populations belong to University of Management and Technology, Sialkot having Bachelor level English in their credit. 500 male and 500 female were selected. Majority of participants belongs to 18-30 years of age. All the participants were able to speak both English and Urdu at the time of research. Data Collection

A survey questionnaire was designed to collect data. 18 Questions were included covering the basic/academic information of recipients. A number of questions were asked to estimate self-proficiency and assessment of English language. Data was collected from different teachers. The aim of this study is to highlight the usage of code switching outside English language classrooms. The research highlighted why and how students and teachers use code switching in their daily life.

Results of Data Analysis:

The researcher found following results after evaluation of Data. The numbers of students involved in this research were 100 students. Respondents' Age Group

Serial Number Age Number of Responses Percentage

1 15-18 150 15%

2 18-21 100 10%

3 21-24 200 20%

4 24-27 150 15%

5 27-30 400 40%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 1

Table 1 indicates the number of respondents i.e. we have 15% students who fall in the age of 15-18 and we have 15 respondents from this category. We have recorded highest number of responses from 27-30 years of age that constitute 40% of this research. Respondents' Gender Serial Number Gender Number of Responses Percentage

1 Male 500 50%o

~2 Female 500 50%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 2

Table 02 indicates the gender of the participants i.e. total 100 students participated in the research and we have equal gender distribution of 50 male and 50 female respectively. Academic Background Serial Number Medium of instruction No of Responses Percentage

Urdu Medium 600 60%

"2. Private Urdu Medium 200 20%

~3. Madrassah Education 100 10%

~4. English Medium 100 10%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 3

Table 3 indicates the educational background of the participants i.e. how many students belong to

Urdu/English and Madrassah system gradually.

Participant's language proficiency

Serial Number Language No of Responses Percentage

1 Punjabi 750 75%

2 Urdu 200 20%

3 Pashto/Sindhi/Balochi 50 5%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 4

Table 4 indicates the language proficiency of the participants i.e. how many language participants can speak; it will help us in determining their ability of code-switching/mixing.

Employed/Not Employed

Serial Number Employed Yes Employed No Percentage

1 600 60%

2 400 40%

Total 100%

Table 5

Table 5 indicates the number of employed and un -employed respondents. It further highlights how

employed respondents use code switching in excess.

Foreign Tours

Serial Number Foreign Tour Number of Responses Percentage

1 Yes 250 25°%

2 NO 750 75°%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 6

Table 6 expresses that only 25 out of 100 visited foreign states and 75 respondents responded in No.

It shows a great number of respondents did not visit any country.

Foreign Friends

Serial Number Response Number of Responses Percentage

1 YES 400 40%

2 NO 600 60%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 7

Table 7 shows that a meager number of language users have foreign friends. Majority of Pakistani students do not have access to modern technologies and they do not communicate with foreign friends.

Previous English Background (In Years)

Serial Number Duration of Study Number of Responses Percentage

1 12 years 1000 100%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 8

Table 8 shows the percentage of the students that we opted for our study, all the students who participated in the study have completed their 12 years of education and they were able to communicate and understand English easily. Preferred English Language Skill

Serial Number Preferred Skill Number of Responses Percentage

1 Reading 1000 100%

2 Writing 800 80%

3 Speaking 300 30%

4 Listening 250 25%

Table: 9

Table 9 shows the ration of reading, writing, speaking and listening respectively. All the students were able to read and write English but only a few of them were able to speak and listen English language. It shows the problem and main difficulty. Usage of English words in Daily Life

Serial Number Usage of English words Number of Responses Percentage

1. Yes 700 70%

2. No 300 30%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 10

Table 10 indicates how frequent a user employs the words in his daily routine. 70% Pakistani students employ English words in their daily lives whereas 30% responded in denial.

Speak English at home

Serial Number Speak English at home Responses Percentage

1. Yes 400 40%

2. No 600 60%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 11

Table 11 shows that majority of Pakistani students do not speak English with anyone at home. They

have only English speakers in Universities and Educational institutes.

Basic Grammar Background

Serial Number Grammar Background Responses Percentage

1. Yes 800 80%

2. No 200 20%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 12

Table 12 indicates that majority of students have Basic English grammar background and they do not

face any problem in the usage of basic grammar.

Do you watch English Movies/Songs

Serial Number English Movies/Songs Number of Responses Percentage

1 Yes 700 70%

2 No 300 30%

Total 1000 100%

Table: 13

Table 13 indicates that 70% students are interesting in learning English from English movies and Media. Majority of Students watch movies and listen English songs to improve their English speaking capability.

Fond of English writings

Serial Number English Books Number of Responses Percentage

1 Yes 500 50%

2 No 500 50%

Total 1000 100%

Table 14

Table 14 indicates that 50% students read English novels and books out of interest. Mostly students

read poetry and novels.

Code Switching in Speaking

Serial Number Code Switching Number of Responses Percentage

1 Yes 800 80%

2 No 200 20%

Total 1000 100%

Table 15

80% Pakistani students mix the languages together while speaking. We may say that 80% do code switching and employ English words in their day to day conversation.

How frequent you mix languages (Precisely)

Serial Number How Frequent Code Switching Number of Responses Percentage

1 Frequent Daily 150 15°%

2 Often 250 25°%

3 Off and On 300 30%

4 Never 300 30%

Total 1000 100%

Table 16

Table 16 indicates that majority of students employ code switching off and on. The daily and close to daily users are relatively less than remaining responses. Code-switching consciously or unconsciously

Serial Number State of Mind Number of Responses Percentage

1 Consciously 400 40%

~2 Unconsciously 600 60%

Total 1000 100

Table 17

Table 17 indicates that majority of students mixes the languages unconsciously. They do it because they are habitual of doing this. It shows their mental aptitude and acceptance of English language. Sr. No. Code switching in SMS/E-MAIL Number of Responses Percentage

1 SMS 1000 100%

2 EMAIL 0 0% Total 1000 100%

Table 18

Table 18 indicates that all the student's use code switching while writing sms and they avoid the same in E-Mail and prefer to use a single language while writing E-mails.

Interviews:

12 seasoned English teachers were requested to join in interview and share their remarks about Code-switching. All teachers were requested to share their views about usage of Code-Switching irrespective of it is good or bad. Code-switching is trending in Pakistan and almost all EFL teachers are employing code switching. Different teachers have different perspective about code switching and interestingly all teachers have different views about code switching. 7 teachers shared the same views by admitting the code switching has helped them a lot while teaching in the class and they are able to perform better resultantly. Teachers were asked following Questions.

1. Share your views about code switching of students in Pakistan?

2. Usage of code switching is justified in language teaching in Pakistani perspective?

5 teachers denied the vitality of code-switching and denied its role in teaching. They said code switching may harm the learning structure as the students will not be able to learn the language smoothly and they will ignore difficult words. They opine that it is better if students do more hard-work and try to find the meanings of difficult words. It will improve their learning capabilities.

CONCLUSION

We cannot deny the importance of Code-switching in modern world. Modern world has adopted code-switching as a new style and compulsory fashion (Beebe 1977). Students feel themselves stylish

speaker of English while speaking/Mixing languages. Students at all levels mix languages consciously or unconsciously and they are very right in doing so as they see/learn the same in their alma maters, families etc. The result of this research shows that students switch codes even with their friends and foreign friends. Furthermore, results recommend that students and teachers have positive attitude towards code-switching. Media and music industry plays important role in influencing young minds. Code-Switching is a double edged sword, people enjoy speaking/mixing languages but they ignore the basic grammar and syntactic roles while mixing the languages (Pfaff 1979). This research recommends that speaker/code mixers should maintain the principles and norms of both languages.

Appendix: Survey Questionnaire:

Please note that this questionnaire is designed for the native speakers of Punjab Pakistan. Disclaimer: We are collecting this information for academic purpose only and we will not disclose this information to any one, Please feel free to answer all questions.

[You are requested to read this form carefully and raise your hand in case you are not able to understand any question.

Your Name and contact/E-mail:

Personal Information

1. What is your age_ 2. Your Gender

Academic Profile (Please Write YES/NO Only)

Please specify your Academic Education:_

Can you speak any language other than Punjabi or Urdu? . Economic Profile

Are you employed_

Have you ever visited any country other than Pakistan_

Have you foreigner friends or interaction with them in any way_

IV. English/Foreign Language Learning History

7. You have read English as compulsory subjects for_years.

8. You are able to Read/Write/Speak/listen English. Specify one or all in case you can_.

9. Do you employ English words in your daily conversation (Please Write YES/NO Only)_

10. Any member of your family speaks English with you? (Please Write YES/NO Only)_

3

V. Self-assessed Proficiency Level

11. You have how knowledge of Basic English grammar? (Please Write YES/NO Only)_

12. Do you like English Movies/Songs? (Please Write YES/NO Only)_

13. Did you ever read English Novel or magazine out of interest (Please Write YES/NO Only)_

VI. Assessment towards Code Switching/Mixing

14. Code switching means using another language with your native language

15. Do you mix languages when you speak? (Please Write YES/NO Only)_

16. You regularly switch language (Please Write YES/NO Only)_

17. You do code switching consciously or subconsciously?_

18. Do you use code switching while writing SMS or Email?_

REFERENCES:

[ 1] Anwar, B. (2009). "Urdu-English code switching: The use of Urdu phrases and clauses in Pakistani English (A non-native variety)." International Journal of Language Studies 3(4).

[2] Banatao, M. A. B. and C. Malenab-Temporal (2018). "Code-Switching in Television Advertisements." TESOL International Journal 13(4): 121-136.

[3] Barandagh, S. G., et al. (2013). "An investigation of teachers and learners' use of English-Persian code switching in Iranian intermediate EFL classrooms." Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research 3(7): 876-883.

[4] Beebe, L. M. (1977). The influence of the listener on code-switching." Language Learning 27(2): 331-339.

[5] Chowdhury, N. (2012). "Classroom code switching of English language teachers at tertiary level: A Bangladeshi perspective." Stamford Journal of English 7: 40-61.

[6] Dar, M. F., et al. (2014). "Code-switching in Pakistani English language classrooms: perceptions of English language teachers." Journal of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Research 2(2): 16-26.

[7] Flyman-Mattsson, A. and N. Burenhult (2009). "Code-switching in second language teaching of French." Working Papers in Linguistics 47: 59-72.

[8] Gulzar, M. A. and S. A. Qadir (2010). "Issues of Language (s) Choice and Use: A Pakistani Perspective." Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS) 30(2).

[9] Hofweber, J., et al. (2019). "How different code-switching types modulate bilinguals' executive functions-a dual control mode perspective." Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.

[10] Mahbub-ul-Alam, A. and S. Quyyum (2016). "A Sociolinguistic Survey on Code Switching & Code Mixing by the Native Speakers of Bangladesh." Journal of Manarat International University 6(01).

[11] Milroy, L. and P. Muysken (1995). "Introduction: Code-switching and bilingualism research." One speaker, two languages: Cross-disciplinary perspectives on code-switching: 1-14.

[12] Pfaff, C. W. (1979). "Constraints on language mixing: Intrasentential code-switching and borrowing in Spanish/English." Language: 291-318.

[13] Turnbull, M. (2001). There is a role for the L1 in second and foreign language teaching, but...." Canadian modern language review 57(4): 531-540.