Pragmatic Research On Code Switching In College English Teaching

Code-switching is a common phenomenon in language and cross-cultural communication. In recent years, applied linguists and language teachers have explored the role of code-switching in language teaching based on second language acquisition theories and classroom practice. They have also demonstrated its models and functions. As a result great achievements have been made in the research and development of second language teaching. Research on classroom code-switching began in the mid 1970s of 20th century. It soon drew the attention of many linguists all over the world. Code-switching has been studied from the aspects of discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics, etc. The results show that code-switching is a popular practice in language teaching and that its use is not due to teachers'lack of language capacity, but rather a contributing factor to comprehension and learning.Ever since the immersion method was introduced into China, College English teaching has undergone big reforms. More and more teachers advocate that English is used as the unmarked language of instruction in classrooms and students'L1 should be avoided for the purpose that students should be exposed to maximum input of English. But through the observation and investigation of Reading and Writing Course of College English in NEU, it is found that code-switching is a common practice for most teachers. They adopt code-switching as a useful teaching strategy. However it flies in the face of what most scholars believe. So this issue arouses language teachers'great concern. The purpose of this study is to find out what pragmatic functions code-switching has in College English classrooms, why it is adopted as a popular pragmatic strategy and whether it contributes to students'learning efficiency or not.Definitions, categories of code-switching are introduced; methods of research are listed and instances of teachers'code-switching are identified and analyzed based on markedness model and theory of adaptability. The pragmatic functions of code-switching in College English classrooms are categorized. Interviews with 10 teachers and 20 students are conducted on the pragmatic motivations why code-switching is adopted as a strategy. Questionnaire is given to 100 students to find out the relationship between code-switching and learning efficiency.The findings reveal that that code-switching is a useful pragmatic strategy for College English teaching, if performed appropriately. When ensured maximum input of the target language, the right amount of code-switching at right time may make students relaxed so that it can enhance more input and intake, and improve classroom efficiency.