Teachers’ Code-switching In Integrated English Class Of Higher Vocational Colleges:A Systemic Functional Perspective

The thesis analyzes teachers’ code-switching in higher vocational college English class of pharmaceutical majors from the perspective of Halliday’s metafunction principle. The study answers three research questions below:1. What are the amount and frequency of teachers’ code-switching in integrated English class of higher vocational colleges?2. What are the teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards teachers’ code-switching in integrated English class of higher vocational colleges?3. What are the main functions of English teachers’ code-switching in integrated English class of higher vocational colleges?4. What are the factors influencing the teachers’ code-switching in integrated English class of higher vocational colleges?The theoretical framework of the study is metafunction principle of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar. Five English teachers and 117 students of pharmaceutical majors from Hunan Food and Drug Vocational College are chosen as subjects. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses are conducted in the study based on the data collected through class observation and recording, teacher interview and student questionnaire. By sorting out the collected data and analyzing the statistics with Microsoft Excel, the thesis provides the following findings:Firstly, teachers’ code-switching is widely used in EFL class in Hunan Food and Drug Vocational College. All the 5 teachers switch codes from English to Chinese without exception, with the amount ranging from 36 to 90 times per period of class.Meanwhile, the amount of code-switching in the teaching of listening and speaking is far less than that in the teaching of reading.Secondly, all the 5 teachers and 63.3% of the students hold a positive attitude towards teachers’ code-switching in higher vocational EFL class, seeing it as beneficial in facilitating students’ English learning. However, all the subjects point out it should not be overused in the meantime.Thirdly, like other linguistic phenomena, teachers’ code-switching serves the metafunctions of the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual. The ideational function of code-switching is most embodied in its experiential function, which mainly includes translation, explanation and emphasis. The interpersonal function concentrates on encouraging interactions between teachers and students andenlivening classroom atmosphere by using different mood and modality system, while the textual function is more internal and requires the combination with the other two functions, ensuring the coherence and integrity of the whole class.Fourthly, it indicates the major factors influencing teachers’ code-switching include students’ and teachers’ language proficiency, cultural and language difference,teachers’ attitude towards code-switching, cognitive factors of teachers and students and so on.Based on the findings and analysis above, several implications are proposed such as speaking English as much as possible in higher vocational college EFL class and adopting code-switching consciously, markedly, timely and appropriately. Besides,teachers are advised to improve their competence in regulating instructional behavior through their own efforts and the teacher development program. The study also has limitations related to data collection and analysis, therefore, many issues still require future research.