A Sociolinguistic Study Of Code-switching In TCFL Classroom

With the increasingly frequent international exchange and cooperation,bilingualism and multilingualism have become common social phenomena.Along with this trend in society,sociolinguistics,once a trivial branch of linguistics,has gained more and more attention from both linguists and scholars in other fields.Situated at the centre of sociolinguistic research,code-switching,essentially the use of two different languages or language varieties within a single written text or conversation has become home to a vast body of research carried out by scholars.For instance,using publications alone as a measuring stick,myriad articles have appeared,journals have also dedicated issues on code-switching,and numerous books devoted solely to code-switching have been published in the past decades alone.In spite of all of the recent publications on code-switching,few works mention TCFL,which is one of the most common and important contexts of code-switching and also an integrated part of second and foreign language teaching and learning.TCFL itself,whose development is recent and immature,only resides in a peripheral position in both pedagogical studies and foreign language teaching research.And also up to now,there are few studies that have been carried out in linguistics based on the motivation and functions of code-switching in TCFL contexts within the theoretical framework of Myers-Scotton's Markedness Model.The studies in this thesis are qualitative in nature and involve detailed and explicit descriptions of code-switching phenomena based on data which contains instances of code-switching.The data comprising audio recordings and on-site observations of classroom interactions in TCFL classrooms of Khon Kaen University is analyzed and discussed within the theoretical framework of Myers-Scotton's Markedness Model theory,according to which there are four types of code-switching,namely marked,unmarked,sequential unmarked and exploratory.Within each of these types of code-switching,a number of specific functions of code-switching could be observed.The Markedness Model posits that language users are rational and choose to speak a language that clearly marks their rights and obligations,relative to other speakers,in the conversation and its setting.When there is no clear,unmarked language choice,speakers practice code-switching to explore possible language choices.This thesis will mainly focus on the instances of ‘marked' code-choice,the ‘marked' choice itself is a negotiation against the ‘unmarked'(expected)choice and directs a speaker to call up for another Rights and Obligation(RO)set in the place of the expected choice.The case study carried out in a TCFL setting sets out to explore the various bilingual and multilingual classroom interactions between students and the teacher and also among the students themselves.We have found that people resort to code-switching to serve the following functions: to fill a lexical gap,to bring out humour,for societal considerations such as euphemism,for economy&rhythm,for expansion&clarification,for identity marking,etc.Despite the limitations of this thesis,it still could contribute to a thorough understanding of the functions of switching between the native language and the foreign language and its underlying reasons.This understanding could provide language teachers with a heightened awareness of its use in classroom discourse and would obviously lead to betterment of instruction by either reinforcing or dominating its exercise when and where it is necessary.