The second research question is to explore what functions the teacher’s code-switching fulfills in his teaching process. In order to answer this research question, I counted the times of each function of his code-switching. In total, six functions were identified in the data, in a decreasing order, which included translation, managing the class, metalinguistic uses, building rapport with students, providing instructions, and communicative uses. Table 6 shows the times of the six functions.
Table 6
The Times of the Functions of the Teacher’s Code-switching
Function Frequency (%)
Translation 114 (67.1)
Managing the class 23 (13.5)
Metalinguistic uses 16 (9.4)
Building rapport with students 14 (8.2)
Providing instructions 2 (1.2)
Communicative uses 1 (0.6)
Total 170 (100)
As shown in Table 6, the teacher’s code-switching occurred most frequently for the translation (67.1%) purpose, followed by the functions of managing the class (13.5%), metalinguistic uses (9.4%), building rapport with students (8.2%), providing instructions (1.2%), and communicative uses (0.6%). In the next section, each of the functions fulfilled by the teacher’s code-switching was discussed.
Translation
In this study, the teacher frequently translated certain English words, phrases, or
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sentences into Chinese in order to help students understand the text. Episodes 1 and 2 display how the teacher code-switched to fulfill this purpose.
Episode 1
T: Do you know what trays are?
SS: (Silence)
T: If you go to a restaurant, waiters will put the food on a tray. They can serve at the table, 托盤那種東西。 [something like trays]
(Extracted from Nov. 7th, 2014) Episode 2
T: You name it, I have them all, which means…? (The teacher sees students.)
SS: (Silence)
T: The girl just says “You name it, I have them all.” Basically, that means she has every pretty much, every celebrity’s autographs.
Okay? Name one, and I’ll show you the autograph. Alright? 你 講的，我都有。 [You name it, I have them all.]
(Extracted from Sep. 26th, 2014)
In Episode 1, the teacher explained the meaning of the word, tray.
Episode 2 occurred after a listening practice. In both episodes, the teacher provided students the Chinese equivalents after he felt the students did not understand the meaning of the word or the sentence. As shown in the
videotaped recordings, when the teacher asked the students the meanings of the word, tray, or the sentence, you name it, I have them all, none of the students showed any responses. Even after the teacher elaborated the meaning of tray or paraphrased you name it, I have them all in English, no students responded to him. The teacher then finally switched from English to Chinese to translate the targeted English word and sentence.
Table 6 shows that the teacher code-switched frequently for translation.
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The same situation is also reported in the studies of Moradkhani (2012) and Liu (2010). They both indicated that the teachers’ code-switching frequently occurred for translation. Hence, for the EFL teachers, they often switched from L2 to L1 to translate unknown words, phrases, or sentences for students. By doing so, the students were able to quickly understand the meanings of words, as Nunan and Lamb (1996) suggested.
Managing the Class
The teacher also code-switched to manage the class. After analyzing the data, three subcategories under the function of managing the class were found:
reprimanding, giving feedback, and reminding students of something.
Reprimanding
The teacher pinpointed the students’ inappropriate behavior during the class. In other words, a student might do something wrong in class, so the teacher used
“utterances that show students have done something wrong” to indicate the students’
inappropriate behavior (Moradkhani, 2012, p.114). Episode 3 shows how the teacher disapproved the student’s sleeping in class.
Episode 3
(T is asking a student to answer the question.) T: ((a student’s name)). Number three.
(A student is answering the question.) T: So, what’s your answer?
S: Noisy.
T: Yeah, noisy. ((a student’s name)), 你跟他一起坐嘛, 要不然你這 樣背對我睡, 你是正對著攝影機睡喔。 [Go to sit with him. If you turn your back on me to sleep, you sleep in front of the video camera.]
(Extracted from Jan. 9th, 2015)
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In Episode 3, the teacher asked a student who was facing the video camera, sleeping, to answer the question. After the student answered the teacher’s question, the teacher asked the student to sit next to another classmate, instead of turning back to the teacher. In this case, the teacher quickly switched to speak in Chinese to show his disapproval of the students’ behavior.
Giving Feedback
The next subcategory under this function is giving feedback. The teacher switched from English to Chinese when giving students feedback on their
performance. In Episode 4, the teacher gave a student feedback after sharing the viewpoint with the class.
Episode 4
T: ((a student’s name)), right? English genius, what do you have to say about this, 煎餅磨坊的舞會？[Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette]
What do you feel about this?
S: People mountain people sea.
SS: Wow! (Clapping)
T: Yeah. Wow, 很會耶吼。 [You are something.]
(Extracted from Oct. 30th, 2014)
In Episode 4, the teacher asked the students to share their reflections after he showed the ten most expensive paintings in the world. After one student shared his own viewpoint of the specific painting, the teacher code-switched to give him positive feedback, 很會耶吼, on his performance.
In addition, the teacher also gave students positive feedback by repeating students’ words. Repetition occurred when students said something in Chinese, the teacher simply repeated what the students just said in Chinese. Episode 5 shows
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how the teacher shifted from English to Chinese to repeat the students’ utterance.
Episode 5
T: Okay. And how about number two, making home movies?
SS: 拍攝家庭電影。 [making home movies]
T: Okay, that’s a very nice translation, alright.
SS: (Laugh)
T: 拍攝家庭電影 [making home movies], okay. You didn’t miss the single word.
(Extracted from Sep. 26th, 2014)
In Episode 5, the teacher was introducing the noun phrase, making home movies.
At first, he asked if any students knew the meaning of making home movies. Then, the students translated the phrase correctly into Chinese. After that, he directly repeated the students’ Chinese translation, 拍攝家庭電影. In the transcripts, he switched 17 times from English to Chinese to repeat the students’ Chinese.
According to Richards and Lockhart (1996), repetition is seen as a kind of feedback on content. After reviewing the 17 cases, I found that the teacher gave the students positive feedback on their performance by repeating their words. In the stimulated recall interview, the teacher expressed another reason why he repeated the students’
Chinese.
When he (a student) answers the question, he may answer the question from other corners of the classroom. But other students from the other corner of the classroom do not hear (the answer). The purpose of repetition is that through my mouth and my microphone, the classmates can know what his (the student’s) answer is. This is my habit.
(他在回答的時候，他可能從另外一個角落回答的，那可是其他坐在 其他比較遠的地方的同學也許會聽不到，那這樣複述的功能就是 讓…經由我的嘴巴、我的麥克風，讓全班的同學都知道他回答了什 麼東西。這是我的習慣。)
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According to the teacher, the purpose of repeating students’ Chinese was to confirm that all of the students knew what the student said in class. The teacher also added that repeating the students’ Chinese was his habit. The teacher explained that when the student answered the question, the student’s voice sometimes was so low that other students who sat far away from him or her might not clearly hear the student’s Chinese answer, so the teacher switched from English to Chinese to repeat what the student just said. After the teacher’s repetition, as shown in the videotaped recordings, the other students really knew what the student just said.
Besides the positive feedback, the teacher also gave students negative feedback on their performance of answering his question. Episode 6 shows how the teacher gave negative feedback to the students.
Episode 6
T: Rio, which city is it?
SS: (Silence)
T: 你們今天眼神太多問號了。 [You have a lot of question marks in your eyes.] I am not happy with that.
SS: (Laugh)
T: Rio, which city? It’s in Brazil. 里約熱內盧。 [Rio de Janeiro]
SS: Oh…
T: (Laugh) Okay, Rio de Janeiro, all about carnival,
(Extracted from Dec. 26th, 2014)
In Episode 6, the teacher asked students where Rio was, but the students did not know the answer. Before that, the teacher was not satisfied with the students’
performance because the students were confused about what the teacher said at that time. Hence, the teacher code-switched, 你們今天眼神太多問號了, to show his dissatisfaction on the students’ performance.
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Reminding
The last subcategory under this function is reminding. When the teacher’s code-switching took place for reminding, he aimed to help students remind something important. In Episode 7, the teacher switched from English to Chinese in order to remind the students that there would be no meeting the next week because of the National Holiday. The following episode illustrates how he shifted from English to Chinese as a reminder.
Episode 7
(At the end of the class)
T: Okay, let me take the attendance very fast.
(T is taking the attendance.)
T: Okay, 記得我們下禮拜沒有上課喔。 [Remember that we don’t have the class next week.] Bye bye.
(Extracted from Oct. 3rd, 2014)
In conclusion, the teacher switched from English to Chinese in order to manage the class. To reach the purpose, the teacher code-switched when reprimanding students’ behaviors, giving feedback, and reminding. After reviewing the
videotaped recordings, the students also gave the teacher with some responses, like verbal or non-verbal responses after he switched from English to Chinese.
Metalinguistic Uses
In addition to switching for classroom management, the teacher also code-switched for metalinguistic uses. According to the analysis of the videotaped recordings, four subcategories are found under the function of metalinguistic uses:
comment, contrast, grammar explanation, and highlighting.
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Comment
Comment refers to that the teacher offers peripheral explanations related to meaning (Moradkhani, 2012), which is different from translation, by which the teacher directly provides the L1 of words, phrases, or sentence. Episode 8 illustrates how the teacher gave comments on the specific idea.
Episode 8
(The teacher is explaining the conversation.)
T: Tanya said, “Oh, so that’s why you haven’t been returning my phone calls!” Yeah, but people just don’t talk on the phone anymore. We use Line, right? Okay. This is the situation like 已讀不回。
[ignoring read messages]
(Extracted from Sep. 26th, 2014)
In Episode 8, the teacher intended to explain the conversation that the students had read in the textbook. The conversation was about two people who had not seen each other for a long time, so they asked each other how they had been recently.
One person, Tanya, said that her friend did not return her phone call. The teacher gave a comment on this situation by using an instant messaging application, Line, as the example. After someone read a message, he or she did not reply to the person who sent the message, which is the similar case with what the conversation was about.
Therefore, the teacher code-switched from English to Chinese to give the comment of this situation, 已讀不回, instead of translating the sentence, Oh, so that’s why you haven’t been returning my phone calls directly into Chinese.
Contrast
The second subcategory under the function of metalinguistic uses is that the
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teacher code-switched to make comparison between the two Chinese terms. For example,
Episode 9
T: You know, you take a piece of woods, and use a knife to carve to…you know, become a Doraamon, something like that. Carving, so what is it?
S: 雕刻。 [carving]
T: 雕刻。 [carving] Okay, question. 雕刻 [carving]，雕像 [sculpture], is there any difference?
S: 一個動詞，一個名詞。 [One is a verb, and the other is a noun.]
(Extracted from Oct. 31st, 2014)
In Episode 9, the teacher explained the difference between sculpture and carving.
In Chinese, these two words are sometimes translated in the similar way, so the teacher asked students whether the students could differentiate the meanings of carving and sculpture. The purpose of switching from English to Chinese, in Episode 9 was to make comparison between these two Chinese terms.
Grammar Explanation
The teacher also switched from English to Chinese to teach grammar. Episode 10 shows how the teacher code-switched in explaining a grammar rule.
Episode 10
(T is checking the answer on grammar exercise.) T: Alright, the last one. It…
SS: It is painted.
T: It is painted every seven years. Every seven years, 頻率嘛，現在 式。 [Adverbs of frequency, present tense.] It is painted every seven years.
(Extracted from Oct. 31st, 2014)
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Here, the teacher first asked students to answer the question, It ___ every seven years. After several students read out the answer, is painted, the teacher repeated the
students’ answer; then, he gave the grammar explanation. In this episode, the teacher explained why the present passive, is painted, was used in this sentence by giving the clue, adverbs of frequency, present tense.
However, in Episode 11, the teacher explained the grammar after the students gave a wrong answer to the question.
Episode 11
(T is checking the answer on grammar exercise.)
T: Okay, Number two. I… When I was twenty two, I…
SS: had been.
T: No, you don’t have to. You don’t have to say “had been.” “Had been” means before. You went to Asia when you were twenty two.
你是 22 歲才去那邊的，如果你用過去完成式，你在那之前就去 過了。 [You went there at the age of twenty-two. If you use the past perfect, that means you had been there before.]
(Extracted from Dec. 26th, 2014)
In Episode 11, the students were asked to answer the question, I ___ to Asia when I was 22. The students first provided the answer, had been. However, the
teacher directly corrected the students’ answer. After that, the teacher began to explain why went was a better choice in this sentence. To help the students tell the differences between the usages of went and had been, he code-switched to Chinese.
Highlighting
The last subcategory under the function of metalinguistic uses is highlighting.
Moradkhani (2012) defined highlighting as “providing some key learning points”
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(p.113). That is, the teacher provided advice on language learning. In Episode 12, the teacher was teaching students how to pronounce some words.
Episode 12
T: How about this (T writes down crisp in the blackboard)?
SS: /krɪsp/ (pronounce the word).
T: /krɪsp/ (pronounce the word), right? (T writes down “s” in the end of the word “crisp” in the blackboard.)
SS: /krɪsps/ (pronounce the word).
T: Do it again.
SS: /krɪsps/ (pronounce the word).
T: Yeah, something like that. Sometimes it’s hard. You know, you don’t have to say every sound. Alright? /krɪps/ (pronounce the word). It seems that if you say it too correctly, it sounds non-natural.
Let me give you a Chinese example. (T writes down “螞蟻” (ants) in the blackboard.) 這兩個字你就不能講太準，單獨來看。
(point to the SS to sound it out.) [You cannot say these two words (ants in Chinese) too correctly. Read it by a single word.]
SS: ㄇㄚˊ。 [ma2.]
T: 國音沒學好，一副中文不好、英文也不好的樣子。[You don’t learn Chinese phonology well. It seems that Chinese is not good, and so is English.] ㄇㄚˇ。 [ma3]
SS: ㄇㄚˇ。[ma3.]
T: ㄧˇ。 [i3.]
SS: ㄧˇ。 [i3.]
T: Okay, put them together.
SS: ㄇㄚˊ ㄧˇ。 [ma2 i3.]
T: ㄇㄚˊ ㄧˇ，這個往下掉的不見了, 對不對? 變成ㄇㄚˊ ㄧ ˇ。 [Ma2 i3. The falling intonation is missing, isn’t it? If you put something in combination, some sounds are reduced. It becomes ma2 i3.]
(Extracted from Dec. 26th, 2014)
Here, the teacher instructed students how to pronounce the word, crisps. To pronounce the word, he advised the students to delete the first /s/ sound. To help
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them realize the pronunciation tip, he provided the students an example in Chinese.
Chinese has four tones. But, when two third-tone Chinese characters are together, the first character should be pronounced in the second tone, which sounds more natural. So, as to the example given by the teacher, 螞蟻, which means ants, the word, 螞, should be pronounced as ma2. It sounds less natural if it is pronounced as ma3 i3. This transcript shows that the teacher switched from English to Chinese to help the students to learn some learning strategies the teacher offers.
To sum up, in the function of metalinguistic uses, the teacher code-switched in order to comment on an idea, make comparison between Chinese terms, explain grammar rules, and provide advice on language learning. After watching the videotaped recordings, I found that talking about language forms only in L2 sometimes led to the students’ incomprehension. After he code-switched from English to Chinese, the students finally gave the teacher some responses to show their understanding of what he said.
Building Rapport with Students
The teacher also code-switched from English to Chinese to create a good relationship with students. Two ways were found used by the teacher to reach the goal: telling jokes and sharing his emotion.
Telling Jokes
The first subcategory under the function of building rapport with students is to tell jokes. Episode 13 exemplifies how the teacher shared a funny thing by using homophonic words to lighten up the class atmosphere.
Episode 13
(T is explaining words.)
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T: And “near,” 接近的。[near] Nearly, means “almost,” 幾乎。
[nearly] Nearly, the sister’s husband, 姊夫。 [brother-in-law]
(pronounce the term in Taiwanese.)
(Extracted from Dec. 26th, 2014)
In Episode 13, the teacher shared a funny thing when explaining the word of nearly. The pronunciation of nearly in Chinese is close to that of “brother-in-law” in
Taiwanese. The code-switching here, according to the teacher, was meant to grasp students’ attention.
Revealing Emotions
In addition to telling jokes, the teacher also code-switched to reveal his own emotions in class, as shown in Episode 14.
Episode 14
T: It’s unlikely that this woman is very happy. And particularly, you can see her eyes here. 看起來很刻薄的感覺。 [She looks mean.]
(Extracted from Oct. 31st, 2014)
Here, the teacher was talking about the ten most expensive paintings in the world, one of which, Femme aux Bra Croisés, was painted by Pablo Picasso, and about a portrait of a girl. At first, the teacher asked the students how they felt about the girl in this painting. After they shared their reflections, the teacher
code-switched to reveal his own emotion, 看起來很刻薄的感覺.
Besides, Episode 15 also shows how the teacher switched from English to Chinese to share his own emotions with the students.
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Episode 15
T: The three people were frightened because the monsters were chasing them. (Sigh) 真是無聊的一篇！ [What a boring article!]
(Extracted from Jan. 9th, 2015)
Episode 15 is taken from a reading exercise. The teacher first asked the students to read an article; the students were then required to make two sentences based on the reading. After the students shared their answers, the teacher switched from English to Chinese to show his boring emotion about this exercise.
To build rapport with students, the teacher could switch from English to Chinese.
After observing the videotaped recordings, two ways were found: telling jokes and revealing emotions to students. According to the videotaped recordings, all of the students understood what the teacher said or laughed after he code-switched.
Providing Instructions
When the teacher’s code-switching occurred for providing instructions, the
When the teacher’s code-switching occurred for providing instructions, the