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Rationale For Code-Switching by Libyan EFL Lecturers: Background of The Study

The document discusses code-switching between Arabic and English by Libyan EFL lecturers. It provides background on the use of both languages in Libyan education and outlines reasons teachers give for code-switching, such as helping students understand lessons. A brief history of language teaching methods is also given to provide context for teacher attitudes toward code-switching.

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56 views

Rationale For Code-Switching by Libyan EFL Lecturers: Background of The Study

The document discusses code-switching between Arabic and English by Libyan EFL lecturers. It provides background on the use of both languages in Libyan education and outlines reasons teachers give for code-switching, such as helping students understand lessons. A brief history of language teaching methods is also given to provide context for teacher attitudes toward code-switching.

Uploaded by

IceMaster Minato
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Rationale for Code-Switching by Libyan EFL Lecturers

Background of the study


English is the most used language in the world. In education, English has also become the
medium of instruction in Higher Education (HE) classrooms in many non-English speaking
countries. In Libya, the orientation is towards using Arabic as the medium of instruction
particularly in Arts, Humanities and Education disciplines. In science and technology,
however, code-switching back and forth from L1 (Arabic) and L2 (English) is quite common.
In departments of English, either in the faculties of education or languages, the medium of
instruction is naturally supposed to be English, since this is the focus of learning. However, it
is not always the case that English is strictly used throughout instruction; in many cases code-
switching does take place at varying degrees. Instructors, who code-switch claim it is
sometimes necessary to assist instruction or to go through administrative matters. In this
respect, code-switching is an argumentative issue in EFL classrooms at Libyan universities.
According to Poplack (1980) code-switching which is the alteration between two languages in
the same discourse is a common phenomenon using multilingual language classroom where
English is taught and grammatical rules are explained with assistance of native language and
where English is the prevailing language and other languages function as support in
explanation and understanding.
EFL teachers use code-switching in the classroom for different reasons. For example, they use
code-switching to help students understand the lesson better (Abdalwahid, 2012). Man and Lu
(2006, cited in Alenezi, 2010) found that in Hong Kong schools both teachers' and students'
major reason for code-switching was that there was no direct translation between English and
Cantonese. They also found that teachers in Hong Kong schools use code-switching to ease
tension and inject humour to conversations
A historical perspective
From a historical perspective, four methods of language, teaching: the Grammar Translation
Method, (GTM) the Direct Method (DM), the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM) and
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), may have shaped teachers' attitude towards code-
switching. The main goal of the Grammar Translation Method was to teach grammar rather
than how to communicate in the target language. Students were taught to read and translate
foreign language texts without any oral practice, while the mother tongue was the medium of
instruction. The Direct Method opposed this movement and advocated the target language as
the unique language of instruction in foreign language classrooms. The DM rejected the
translation of words into the native language and advocated the association of words with
objects directly without the interference of the native language. Similarly, the ALM stressed
the prominence of listening comprehension and oral proficiency with accuracy in
pronunciation. Finally, in CLT the main goal of was to enable learners to speak and
communicate their entre thoughts and feelings in the target language.
In view of this brief historical perceptive, Nzwanga (2000) reveals three major trends in the
use of code-switching in second/foreign language learning over the years. The first was a
strong establishment of code-switching; the second entailed total rejection of code-switching;
the third trend arrived at a compromise solution between the two. It is this third trend that
seems the most problematic, as it provides no guidance as to how or when or for what reason
the instructor may use the source language in a second/foreign language classroom.
Therefore, the present study sets out to investigate the issue of CS in the EFL classrooms of
higher education. The researchers proposed to achieve this objective through case study
research in which a series of classroom observations followed by retrospective interviews
with the teachers concerned are carried out in order to elicit their rational for the observed
incidents of code-switching.

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