Classroom Discourse in Bilingual Context: Effects of Code- switching on Language Learning in Pakistani TEFL Classroom

Abstract

In the last decade, a number of previous research studies in the Applied Linguistics, TESOL and TEFL focused on the issues of language alternation and their role in the interaction between teachers and students. But no such research was conducted to address these issues in the context of Pakistan to understand the reasons for teachers’ code-switching between English and Urdu in the TEFL classroom. Pakistan is a multilingual country, and educational institutions are essentially bilingual and cannot be made free from the influence of bilinguality. Moreover, English courses are designed for teaching English as FL and SL (in some cases only) and the execution of these courses in the classrooms includes code-switching. Since both trainers and trainees are bilingual, they code-switch to perform different functions in the EFL classrooms. The present research tried to explore these functions of code-switching in the bilingual classroom discourse with special reference to the Diploma TEFL classroom at AIOU. The unifying thesis of the work is presented in chapter one alongwith the definitions of the terms, basic concepts, and sociolinguistic background of Pakistan and framework of the study. Chapter two provides a review of relevant literature, specifically addressing bilingualism, classroom discourse, and various aspects of code-switching. Chapter three deals with two research methodologies (qualitative and quantitative) used in the process of collecting and analyzing the data. In chapters four, five and six, analysis of the findings is presented. These chapters might be viewed as vital chapters because the researcher presented the analysis of all the findings in these chapters. In chapter seven, the researcher re- examined and re-visited the research questions by focusing on the bilingual classroom interactions and the education policy in relation with the medium of instruction. In the v first part of the last chapter, results are analyzed in the form of the triangulation of the data, and then reiteration of the principal results is presented to emphasize the important findings which reveal that code-switching is used by all the teachers included in the sample of sixteen teachers except one. Thus, it is an unavoidable and inevitable phenomenon in the bilingual classrooms. The teachers’ code-switching or the alternate use of two languages is quite common in Pakistani EFL classrooms. The analysis of the recorded Diploma TEFL sessions shows that the teachers’ code- switching is function oriented and it is related to classroom discourse and socializing discourse in most of the cases. The teachers achieved different kinds of pedagogical purposes by code- switching, for instance, clarification, giving instructions effectively, emphasis, and creating a sense of belonging etc. In the second part of the last chapter, contributions of the study and various theoretical and practical implications of this research are presented, followed by the suggestions for future researchers. It is found that there is a need to devise clear language policy about the use of medium of instruction(s) at different levels of education and this fundamental clarity can bring a qualitative change in the infrastructure of Pakistani bilingual classroom discourse. The results of the study have implications for research methodology, EFL classroom teachers, administrators and policy planners. These implications are discussed in detail in the last chapter and a change in the teaching/learning methodologies has been suggested at the policy level as a crux of the whole discussion. The principal result is that unless we determine the percentage of the use of code-switching and L1 in the classroom and devise a clear cut policy on the medium of instruction according to the need of the bilingual society, qualitative and quantitative changes cannot be incorporated in the educational system of Pakistan.