Empirical Study Of Teachers’ Code-Switching In Intensive Reading Courses Of English Majors

Code-switching is the phenomenon of changing from using one language toanother language during conversation and is not only a common phenomenon oflanguage contact in sociolinguistics but also an external form of social culture. Althoughmany linguists have been studying code-switching of related English courses since20thcentury, they mainly concentrate on code-switching of related English courses ofnon-English majors. So it is necessary to study the code-switching of English majorsbecause these studies can not fully lay bare the condition and purposes of teachers’code-switching of English majors in class in China. Furthermore, intensive readingcourse is one of typical or classic materials and it can exemplify the performances ofteachers’ code-switching of English majors very well. Therefore, this thesis has anattempt to find out the phenomenon of teachers’ code-switching of English majors interms of intensive reading courses.This investigation is built on teachers’ code-switching in intensive reading coursesof English majors from Nanchang University, Jiangxi Science and Technology NormalUniversity, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technologycollege by classroom observation and recording technique in class. Then some reliabledata is collected. This thesis is going to use these data and use Typology ofCode-switching Model of Shana Poplack and Matrix Language Frame Model ofMyers-Scotton as framework theories to depict and reveal the real circumstances ofteachers’ code-switching in intensive reading courses of English majors at NanchangUniversity, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Jiangxi University ofTraditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology College. Shana Poplack sortscode-switching into three categories: intra-sentential code-switching, inter-sententialcode-switching and tag-switching. First of all, this thesis explores the types and themost commonly used type of teachers’ code-switching in intensive reading courses ofEnglish majors by Shana Poplack’s Typology of Code-switching Model. Then itanalyzes the inner patterns of each type of code-switching by Matrix Language FrameModel of Myers-Scotton. Lastly, this thesis analyzes those functions of teachers’code-switching in intensive reading courses of English majors.This thesis is based on the researches above and the following results are found:(1) The dominant types of teachers’ code-switching in intensive reading courses of English majors are intra-sentential code-switching, inter-sentential code-switching andtag-switching. And the inter-sentential code-switching is the most commonly used ofteachers’ code-switching in intensive reading courses of English majors.(2) There are some similarities and differences between teachers from differentuniversity concerning the code-switching used in intensive reading courses of Englishmajors.(3) There are some differences in patterns of three types of code-switching betweendifferent teachers in intensive reading courses of English majors under the MatrixLanguage Frame Model.(4) Functions of teacher’s code-switching in intensive reading courses of Englishmajors are Certainty; Liveliness or Accuracy; Direction; Interpretation; Quotation andExplanation. The salient function amongst them is Explanation---explaining thegrammatical structure and figurative.