Code-switching in English Language Education: Voices from Vietnam

Abstract

Abstract-Why do bilingual language teachers and students switch between the two languages in their language classrooms? On the evidence of current research findings in relation to English-Vietnamese codeswitching in the educational contexts of Vietnam, this article identifies that classroom code-switching between the second language and the first language has its own pedagogic functions and it can be a valuable language classroom resource to both teachers and learners. In Vietnam, the implementation of the monolingual approach of teaching English-through-English-only faces many challenges such as inadequate classroom resources, students' low levels of English competence, motivation and autonomy, teachers' limited English abilities, and inappropriate teaching methods. Many Vietnamese teachers of English support code-switching in the classroom and they teach English through the bilingual approach. English-Vietnamese code-switching is reported not to be a restriction on the acquisition of English; rather, it can facilitate the teaching and learning of general English in Vietnam. This practice of code-switching is not just due to a lack of sufficient proficiency to maintain a conversation in English; rather, it serves a number of pedagogic functions such as explaining new words and grammatical rules, giving feedback, checking comprehension, making comparison between English and Vietnamese, establishing good rapport between teachers and students, creating a friendly classroom atmosphere and supporting group dynamics.

Vietnam’s extraordinary performance in the PISA assessment: A cultural explanation of an education paradox

“…Other notable recent policies implemented include the National Foreign Languages 2020 Project (NFL 2020) for teachers (Nguyen and Nguyen, 2008;Nguyen, 2011;Nguyen, Grainger and Carey, 2016;Nguyen and Burns, 2017); the "Year of ICT" (Peeraer and Van Petegem, 2012; and Teaching in the Training of Math Teachers (Tran, 2017).…”

The Use of Code Switching in General English Classes for Non-English Department Students in Indonesia

“…Teachers' use of code switching is not always performed consciously; which means that the teacher is not always aware of the functions and outcomes of the code switching process (Jingxia, 2010;Modupeola, 2013b;Sert, 2005b). The use of code switching itself is reported as a restriction on the acquisition of English, however, some studies show that the use of code switching can actually aid the English teaching and learning (N. T. Nguyen et al, 2016). Thus, the writers would like to find out the functions of code switching in the EFL classes based on (Flyman-Mattsson & Burenhult, 1999) findings by observing three classes of General English at Sanata Dharma University.…”

“…The issues of the use of code switching as an instructional language in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classes may have been discussed for many years since code switching is a common thing used in multilingual Asian such as Indonesia (Liu, 2010;Mujiono, Poedjosoedarmo, Subroto, & Wiratno, 2013). The consideration of using code switching as the strategy in the EFL classes is the claim that code switching can be helpful means for student's TL acquisition (Ahmad & Jusoff, 2009a;Bista, 2009a;Jingxia, 2010;Makulloluwa, 2013;Modupeola, 2013a;N. Nguyen, Grainger, & Carey, 2016;Nordin, Ali, Zubir, & Sadjirin, 2013;Pollard, 2002b).…”

“…Specifically, inter-sentential code switching was usually practiced intentionally to give students exposures while intrasentential code switching was found to be a habit of the English teacher as a bilingual (Fathimah, 2016a) and the code switching is able to assist teaching and learning activities in terms of Linguistic Semantics, and Pragmatics (Arung, 2015a;Mujiono et al, 2013). Further, a study done in Vietnam revealed that the idea of making full English classes in Non-English-speaking countries faces many challenges since classroom resources are inadequate, students' English competence, motivation, and autonomy are low, teachers' abilities are limited and teaching methods inappropriate (N. T. Nguyen, Grainger, & Carey, 2016). Those are some teachers' considerations in employing code switching in EFL classes.…”

“…Further, repeated instruction in L1 after L2 may lead some undesired student behaviors and it may make students lose interest in listening to English instruction which means students' exposition to English is limited (Sert, 2005b). Although there are many contrast opinions related to the use of code switching as instructional language in the EFL classes, some studies proved that code switching is still beneficial for students and teachers both in terms of pedagogical and personal context (Arung, 2015b;Fathimah, 2016b;Maishara, Dieba, Ali, Intan, & Syed, 2013;Makulloluwa, 2013;Modupeola, 2013b;Mujiono et al, 2013;N. T. Nguyen et al, 2016;Pollard, 2002c) Specifically, the issue of the use of code switching in the EFL classes also occurs in Sanata Dharma University, which requires their students from all departments to be able to speak English for daily conversation.…”