A CASE STUDY ON CODESWITCHING EMPLOYED BY TEACHERS

IN CLASSES WITH ENGLISH AS MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

By: Maria Victoria B. Velasco, Bernadette M. Songalia and Salina A. Dimaano

This study aimed to find out if codeswitching has an important role in the teaching-

learning process. It was hoped that this could help arrive at a better understanding of teachers’

codeswitching practice and develop an appropriate intervention towards its use in classes with

English as medium of instruction.

Respondents used in this study were forty (40) teachers teaching subjects using English

as medium of instruction. Using classroom observations and interviews in data gathering,

results revealed that out of 40 teachers observed, there were 28 or 70% who codeswitched.

Teachers discussed their lesson in English at first but eventually codeswitched when none or

only few students responded to the questions. Codeswitching is employed when: (1) teachers

cannot exactly articulate what they need to say or ask. (2) Teachers solicit students’ response

(3) students cannot comprehend the question/s (4) students cannot express their answers in

English; Teachers codeswitch according to their interview to elaborate the point/s they are

explaining. They believed that codeswitching helps make their lesson easier and more

comprehensible. Lastly, findings showed that codeswitching affects students’ performance.

During the discussion it helped students articulate their answers. Unfortunately it also

revealed that it negatively impacted the students’ performance because examinations are in

English. Therefore, with codeswitching, students are deprived of genuine L2 experience. It

served as barrier in the development of students’ linguistic ability. Thus, codeswitching should

be avoided and the target language be used consistently.

Hence, the researchers recommended an appropriate oral communication training to

address the problem at hand.