Teachers’ English/Chinese Code-switching In College Efl Class: An Adaptation Perspective

Code-switching in EFL classroom, a hot issue in sociolinguistics,has attracted much attention of domestic and foreign language researchersin recent years. Linguists have done many researches from differentperspectives systematically and theoretically. As one of the central issuesin sociolinguistic research, English/Chinese code-switching is of greatsignificance in college EFL class in China.From the perspective of adaptation in sociolinguistics, this thesisaims to investigate teachers’ English/Chinese code-switching in collegeEFL class for non-English majors. In recent studies, teachers’code-switching has been regarded not only as a linguistic choice but akind of teaching strategy that English teachers often adopt to achievecertain teaching goals and successful communication. Based onVerschueren’s Adaptation Theory and Yu Guodong’s Adaptation Modeland the findings of the questionnaires, the thesis first analyzes thecollected data from five perspectives, the frequency, amount, attitude,situations and influencing factors of code-switching in the questionnaires.And then, it discusses the five pragmatic adaptations of teachers’code-switching: the adaptation to linguistic reality, social conventions,teachers’ role, students’ English proficiency and psychological intentions.Research shows that code-switching is not only a sociolinguisticphenomenon in the linguistic field, but also a significant teaching,cognitive and communicative strategy which can facilitate students’comprehension, arouse students’ interest and create a lively andsuccessful classroom atmosphere. It is hoped that the thesis can makecertain contributions to Chinese sociolinguistic study and EFL teaching.