Facilitative effects of learner-directed codeswitching: evidence from Chinese learners of English

Abstract

Facilitative effects of learner-directed codeswitching: Evidence from Chinese learners of EnglishThis study examines the interaction between learner-oriented codeswitching (CS) practices and the degree to which intermediate Chinese L2 learners of English engage in classroom interaction. The guiding questions are whether the teacher's CS use facilitates classroom interaction at moderate L2 proficiency, and if so, at which specific stages of the lesson, and to what extent. A systematic comparison of two classroom types was carried out in the same Chinese secondary school, with English-only instruction versus with English-Chinese CS. A combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses was based on class observations (2 classes per type) and subsequent teacher interviews. CS behaviour was analysed in relation to the particular teaching focus of the task at hand.Interviews included a stimulated recall technique using selected CS extracts to enrich insights from the teacher's perspective. The results showed a higher student response frequency as well as a longer mean utterance length in CS classes. Overall, codeswitches were systematically distributed across lesson stages and were closely related to changes in the teaching focus. These findings call for an optimal use of CS in instructed environments so as to maximise its benefits via a sensitive adjustment to specific pedagogic aims. Keywordscodeswitching, classroom discourse, bilingual input, student engagement, stimulated recall This is the authors' copy of Zhu, X., & Vanek, N. (2015). Facilitative effects of learner-directed codeswitching: Evidence from Chinese learners of English. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/13670050.2015.1087962 Please contact the publisher for permission to reuse the material in any form. IntroductionTo codeswitch between the L1 and the L2 or not in a foreign language classroom is a resonant and contentious question (Unamuno, 2008;Shin & Milory, 2000).Proponents argue that CS can increase pupils' openness to classroom learning because its use can alleviate the foreign language challenge (Cook, 2001), motivate students' classroom engagement, and facilitate the acquisition of competences necessary for intercultural communication (Halmari, 2004;Li, 2005), or more fully draw upon multiple communicative repertoires including styles, genres and registers (Saxena & Martin-Jones, 2013) available in a bilingual classroom context. Opponents claim that the use of L1 will undermine the learning process by limiting opportunities of input and output in L2 (Turnbull & Arnett, 2002), or hold that CS is a mere proof of learners' language deficiencies, and a sign of insufficient L2 proficiency of the teachers (Moore, 2002). This study adopts the premise that CS deserves a place in FL classrooms because it is an effective strategy to stimulate classroom interaction to a greater extent than the exclusive use of L2. Whether this is the case is tested via zooming in on the interplay between te...

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