Chinese University Students’ Perceptions of teacher Code-switching in EFL Speaking Classrooms

Abstract

While research on students’ perceptions of code-switching in EFL classrooms has proliferated over the past several decades, limited research has been conducted to understand students’ perceptions with different levels of language proficiency in English. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data collected from students with different English proficiency levels, the present research reports students’ perceptions of teacher code-switching in EFL speaking classrooms in Chinese tertiary context. The quantitative data collected from questionnaires show that students do not favor total immersion. Students believe that English should be the medium of instruction for activities and their opinions show mixed results under the circumstances of teaching grammar and usage of English. Mixed opinions are also found in terms of teacher switching to Chinese to give administrative information and test information. The qualitative data in the questionnaire suggest that students prefer Chinese teacher of English owning to better understanding, and they attribute their levels of English as the deciding factor of their preferences. No statistical differences achieved regarding the perceptions from Level One and Level Two students. Findings suggest that the systematic and effective use of learner’s L1 is beneficial for language teaching in speaking classrooms, and L1 can be regarded as a powerful tool to develop effective teaching approaches for English language teachers.

English Teachers' Perception and Strategies Towards the Use of Code-Switching in Teaching EFL Young Learners

“…Amalo (2018) suggests that teachers perceive code-switching positively as it is considered as one of timesaving techniques that can make the learning process efficient. A study by Luo (2019) even found that students also have positive perception towards code-switching as it helps them in comprehending the topics being learned. Similarly, Khaerunnisa (2016) also found that codeswitching was done so that better and clearer explanation regarding the topics being discussed could be delivered to the students.…”

“…Meanwhile, the study conducted in Kupang city High School, Indonesia by Amalo (2018) shows 100% of respondents (the teachers) agreed that the use of code-switching will make the English learning process more efficient because it is one of time-saving technique. The other study from Luo (2019) who examined students' perceptions of teacher code-switching in EFL Speaking Classrooms shows that by using code-switching, the teacher can facilitate students as bilingual dictionaries as opposed to monolingual teachers.…”

Code-switching in English classrooms and its Impact on undergraduate learning in a public university in Afghanistan

“…Moreover, May and Aziz (2020) promoted code-switching in English classrooms as an efficient and time-saving technique and it indeed accelerated the language learning process. Likewise, EFL learners echoed their preferences toward code-switching in the classroom and regarded the lessons unproductive unless there was code-switching to be able to understand at some point (Luo, 2019). The positive aspect of using code-switching not only in lecturer-learner interaction in the classroom but also in foreign language learning should not be ignored by those who work in foreign language learning areas (Greggio & Gil, 2007).…”

“…Likewise, EFL learners proposed lecturers code-switch when there was an important issue relevant to the exam and assessment which was very important for them. Because they did not want to remain uninformed or leave any information behind (Luo, 2019), or the teacher did not want to jeopardize the misinterpretation of the important message (Gulzar & Al Asmari, 2014). In addition to the value devoted to lecturers' code-switching, students of business communication perceived it as an assistance to develop correct word choices for translation tasks (Pham, 2015).…”

Code-Switching Practices in Multilingual Classrooms: Exploring Pedagogical Functions

“…A number of studies of Code-Switching, to some extent, have focused not only on the tertiary level of education but also on the secondary level, they highlighted the reasons and the perspectives of code-switching practice during the lesson (Hakim et al, 2019;Luo, 2019;Mahdi & Almalki, 2019). Nevertheless, the findings mostly talk about the perspective from teachers only and were limited from students' perspective including views of function could be found there (Cataby 2016;Fareed et al 2016;Nguyen 2017).…”