A Study On The Teachers' Code-Switching In College English Class

Code-switching refers to the alternate use of two or more languages within the same conversation episode or utterance. Code-switching, as a unique linguistic phenomenon, does exist in bi-lingual and multi-lingual societies where we are living. And the study of code-switching in foreign language class has been one of the focuses for researchers. There have been fierce discussions among the researchers on whether native language should be used in foreign language teaching. Jef Verschueren (1999) who first put forward Adaptation Theory in his publishing book Understanding Pragmatics, stated that the process of language use is a process of language choice. The purpose of making choices both within a language and between two languages (code-switching) is for adaptation. The Chinese linguist, Yu Guodong has made further researches on code-witching and presented an Adaptation Model on English/Chinese code-switching (2001). According to his model, language users use code-switching as a communicative strategy so as to adapt to language reality, social conventions, and psychological intentions, then to realize certain specific communicative goals.The present study collects data from six college English teachers' classes at a university in Hunan Province, based on Jef Verschueren's Adaptation Theory, and Yu Guodong's Adaptation Model on English/ Chinese code-switching. Classroom observation and recording, interview and questionnaire are conducted during the research. After carefully analyzing the college English teachers'code-switching in class, the present study finds:firstly, teachers'code-switching is a prevalent phenomenon in college English class; secondly, teachers'code-switching in class is a process of adaptation:(1) adaptation to linguistic reality (2) adaptation to social conventions (3) adaptation to teachers'roles (4)adaptation to teachers'psychological intentions. Most students accept even favor teachers'code-switching in class. They think code-switching can facilitate their understanding of the text, analyze complicate sentences and structures and create an easy classroom atmosphere. These adaptations have provided theoretical basis for the explanation of teachers'code-switching in class, explore a new angle for our study of code-switching, and also facilitate better realization of code-switching. To summarize, native language plays an important role in foreign language teaching. With the results from the investigation and analysis, the author expects to make some contributions to exploring the strategies of second language teaching and learning.