A Study On Code-switching In Postgraduate EFL Classroom Interactions:an Adaptation Perspective

Code-switching exists in bi-lingual and multi-lingual societies. In the context of the heated discussions among researchers and teachers on the role of native language in foreign language teaching, whether and how code-switching performs any functions in language classrooms remain to be explored.The present study made an investigation of classroom code-switching at postgraduate level in the School of Foreign Studies, Nanjing University, adopting both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Classroom observation had been conducted in three postgraduate modules in the university, followed by interviews with the students. The researcher aimed to identify (1) the basic characteristics of in-class code-switching between teachers and students, including the types and functions of code-switching;(2) the use of code-switching to adapt to the linguistic difficulty, communicative demands and the academic context based on an adaptation model; and (3) the students’ conceptions of the classroom code-switching.The results of classroom observation revealed that code-switching was still a common phenomenon at postgraduate level in EFL context in China.(1) Specifically, intra-sentential code-switching was the most frequently used type;(2) semantic uses exceeded communicative uses in general, with "giving explanation" to be the most frequent sub-function;(3) code-switching, as a language choice and strategy, could also fulfill the whole language learning context;(4) several factors, including the learners’foreign language learning background, mental factors, school guidelines, teacher requirements, and so on, might influence the mixed use of two languages;(5) in-class code-switching had generally been favored by L2learners, who, nevertheless maintained that the mother tongue usage should be strictly controlled. These results had some implications for EFL teaching.