Teachers’ code-switching in bilingual classrooms: exploring pedagogical and sociocultural functions

ABSTRACT

The pedagogical and sociocultural functions of teachers’ code-switching are an important factor in achieving the dual goals of content learning and language learning in bilingual programmes. This paper reports on an ethnographic case study investigating how and why teachers switched between languages in tertiary bilingual classrooms in Indonesia, where the main language of instruction was English. Data on code-switching were gathered in three classrooms over one semester, employing classroom observation with video and audio recording, semi-structured teacher interviews with some stimulated recall, and a focus group discussion. Transcripts of classroom interaction were examined using both an Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS) perspective and functional categories of code-switching. Teacher reflections were studied, and analysis indicated that teachers’ code-switching was frequently used to support students to gain understanding of unfamiliar concepts, where the pedagogical focus was on the subject matter more than on language. It also involved managing students’ behaviour and engaging in interpersonal and affective interactions with students. The teachers’ code-switching thus frequently functioned as translanguaging in that it occurred as an intentional strategy for teaching in these bilingual classrooms, integrating the two languages in order to achieve better communication and engagement in learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Teachers’ code-switching
• translanguaging
• bilingual programme
• tertiary content classroom
• Indonesia

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the bilingual teachers for their willingness to be participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Hilda Cahyani is a faculty member of the Accounting Department, State Polytechnic of Malang, East Java, Indonesia. She earned her Bachelor's degree in English Literature and her Master's in English Language Teaching from the State University of Malang. She completed her Ph.D. in TESOL in 2015, at the School of Education, University of South Australia. Her research interests are in classroom discourse, bilingualism, bilingual education, code-switching, and intercultural communication.

Michele de Courcy has recently retired from full-time teaching and remains an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education, University of South Australia. Michele's research interests have included using students' multilingual resources, teachers' knowledge and use of scales in the assessment of English Language Learners, and TESOL teacher beliefs and identity. Her Ph.D., obtained in 1995, was on language immersion education.

Jenny Barnett has recently retired as senior lecturer in TESOL at the School of Education, University of South Australia, and continues her affiliation. She taught curriculum development, TESOL pedagogy, and language learning theory in undergraduate and postgraduate courses from 1987 and conducted research in schools working with learners of English as an Additional Language. She earned her Ph.D. in 2005 and has supervised over 20 doctoral students.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank the Indonesian government and the Directorate General of Higher Education (DIKTI), which sponsored this study.