Codeswitching in L1 and L2 learning contexts: insights from a study of teacher beliefs and practices in Mozambican bilingual education programmes

Abstract

There are a plethora of studies on first language (L1) use in second (L2) and foreign language (FL) learning contexts. In contrast, L2 or FL use in L1 learning environments seems to be under-researched. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Mozambican bilingual education schools, I discuss teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding codeswitching in L1 and L2 classroom contexts. I also show how, in both contexts, teachers tended to avoid the use of codeswitching, for different reasons. However, research in other L1 and L2 learning contexts has demonstrated that classroom codeswitching is a communicative and pedagogical strategy that can aid learners’ ‘target’ language comprehension, use and learning, as well as assisting them in expressing and affirming multiple identities. I conclude with a call for teacher–researcher dialogue and teacher-led action research in bilingual education contexts such as these so that teachers can make appropriate judgements about optimal use of multilingual resources in their own classrooms.

Keywords:

• bilingual education
• Changana
• Portuguese
• Mozambique
• classroom discourse
• codeswitching

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Marilyn Martin-Jones, Mukul Saxena and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on earlier versions of this article. I would also like to thank all participants in the study who gave their time and accounts that helped me to make sense of the phenomena observed.