A Study Of Junior Middle School English Teachers’ Classroom Code-Switching Based On Adaptation Theory

Classroom code-switching refers to the phenomenon that two or more languages are used alternately in classroom teaching.In recent years,scholars at home and abroad have paid close attention to the code-switching in foreign language classrooms,but whether or not code-switching should exist in foreign language classrooms is still controversial.Many scholars have tried to analyze code-switching from different angles.The purpose of this study is to explore the use of code-switching by English teachers in the classroom of junior middle school based on Verschueren’s adaptation theory.The following research questions are specifically raised and answered.(1)What are the distribution features of inter-sentential,intra-sentential and tag code-switching types of junior middle school English teachers’ classroom code-switching in different lesson types?(2)What are the adaptability characteristics of junior middle school English teachers’ classroom code-switching?In this study,five junior middle school English teachers in Grade Three from Yunnan University Secondary School(Chenggong Campus)are chosen as the research subjects,and the three types of code-switching by Poplack are used as the classification criteria.The author observes,records and transcribes the five teachers’ 25 class periods,including such lesson types as listening,reading,exercise,grammar and vocabulary.Through careful analysis and discussion of the obtained data,the following conclusions are reached.(1)In terms of the general distribution,the total occurrence frequency of the five teachers’ code-switching in the 25 periods is 1383,including intra-sentential,inter-sentential and tag code-switching,and the percentage of these three types are respectively 60%,23% and 17%.As for the lesson types,the code-switching is the most frequently used in exercise lesson,accounting for 30% in total.The code-switching ranks the second in vocabulary lesson,which accounts for 24%.The number of the code-switching in reading lesson goes to the third one with the percentage of 19.5%.Code-switching is used relatively less in listening and grammar lessons,accounting for 12.5% and 14% respectively.(2)With all the results from the analysis of the adaptability characteristics of the teachers’ code-switching in different lesson types considering,it is found that the teachers adopt code-switching because they are to adapt to such contextual correlates as physical world,mental world and social world.Firstly,code-switching is employed to adapt to physical correlates.In classroom teaching,the teachers use Chinese and English alternatively to adapt to the teaching objectives,teaching content,and the language proficiency of the students and the teachers themselves as well.Secondly,the mental correlates to which the teachers’ code-switching adapts are embodied in the teachers’ mental motivations including teaching intentions,teaching expectations,and praising the students to shorten the psychological distance between teachers and students.Thirdly,the social correlates such as the teachers’ personal habits,inherent cognition,and the role as lecturer will all lead to the teachers’ code-switching from time to time.Above all,in China,it is inevitable that teachers use Chinese and English alternatively in English classroom teaching.Therefore,the findings of this study are expected to be of positive referential significance for our English teaching.