Codeswitching in University English-Medium Classes

Asian Perspectives

Edited by Roger Barnard, James McLellan

Publication date:

20 December 2013

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

210x148mm
6x8"

ISBN-13: 9781783090907

In the complex, multilingual societies of the 21st century, codeswitching is an everyday occurrence, and yet the use of students’ first language in the English language classroom has been consistently discouraged by teachers and educational policy-makers. This volume begins by examining current theoretical work on codeswitching and then proceeds to examine the convergence and divergence between university language teachers’ beliefs about codeswitching and their classroom practice. Each chapter investigates the extent of, and motivations for, codeswitching in one or two particular contexts, and the interactive and pedagogical functions for which alternative languages are used. Many teachers, and policy-makers, in schools as well as universities, may rethink existing ’English-only’ policies in the light of the findings reported in this book.

Contributors

Transcription conventions

Roger Barnard and James McLellan: Introduction

Ernesto Macaro: Overview: Where Should we be Going with Classroom Codeswitching Research?

1. Ching-yi Tien and David C.S. Li: Codeswitching in a University in Taiwan

2. Lili Tian and Claudia Kunschak: Codeswitching in two Chinese Universities

3. Simon Humphries and Richmond Stroupe: Codeswitching in two Japanese Contexts

4. Chamaipak Tayjasanant and Matthew G. Robinson: Codeswitching in Universities in Thailand and Bhutan

5. Le Van Canh and Fuad Abdul Hamied: Codeswitching in Universities in Vietnam and Indonesia

6. Noor Azam Haji-Othman, Hajah Zurinah Haji Ya’akub, Liyana Ghani, Hajah Suciyati Haji Sulaiman, Saidai Haji Hitam Ain Nadzimah Abdullah and Chan Swee Heng: Codeswitching in Universities in Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia

7. Kenneth Ong Keng Wee, Lawrence Jun Zhang and Isabel Pefianco Martin: Codeswitching in Universities in Singapore and the Philippines

8. Moyra Sweetnam Evans, Ha Rim Lee and Hyun-Ju Kim: Codeswitching by Korean Students in New Zealand and Lecturers in Korea

9. Andy Kirkpatrick: Afterword

Barnard and McLellan have brought together a group of rigorous empirical investigations of one of the most overlooked and undertheorized aspects of second-language classrooms, namely the use of the first language and the practice of codeswitching in the second-language classroom. This collection of studies done across Asia should be read by applied linguists, language teachers at all levels, and particularly educational policy-makers who currently assert that there is no place in the classroom for codeswitching and the students' first language.