A Study On Linguistic Features Of Vietnamese - English Code - Switching In Vietnamese Conversations By Fpt High School Students'' .Pdf

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ LÀNH ại Đ A STUDY ON LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF họ VIETNAMESE - ENGLISH CODE – SWITCHING IN c VIETNAMESE CONVERSATIONS BY FPT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS Đ g ẵn Code : 8220201 N Major : ENGLISH LINGUISTICS MASTER THESIS IN LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES (A SUMMARY) Da Nang, 2022 This thesis has been completed at University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Da Nang Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lưu Qúy Khương Examiner 1: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Tất Thắng Examiner 2: Assoc Prof Dr Phan Văn Hòa ại Đ The thesis was orally defended at the Examining Committee họ Time: 11st August 2022 c Đ Venue: University of Foreign Language Studies -The University of Da Nang g ẵn N This thesis is available for the purpose of reference at: - The University of Da Nang – The Center for Learning Information Resources and Communication - Center for Information Technology and Learning Resources, University of Foreign Language Studies The University of Da Nang CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study These days, code-switching (CS) between Vietnamese and English has become increasingly common in many different situations from daily conversations to news, interviews on television, on radio as well as newspaper, magazines and so on Conversations occur at school involved CS between teachers and students are as normal and popular as Đ those between students and students while communicating Since students ại have been exposed to English in almost every aspect of life, from họ entertainment such as songs, movies and games to education such as documents and source of information, frequently in communication, c students unconsciously insert some English words or phrases into their Đ Vietnamese utterances or vice versa For example: g ẵn N (1.1) A Check story tui up mau lên! (Check the new story I have just uploaded, Quick!) B Chưa, để ta lên check (Not yet, let me check) [R106] CS acts as a communication device in conversations serving different purposes Research has shown that the practice of alternating languages not only is common, but also serves important communication strategies However, besides the good points, CS poses some negative impacts on the purity of Vietnamese That means in some cases, some expressions involved CS are relatively awkward that they hinder the interlocutors or the people around to understand Studies have been conducted in a large number delving into this phenomenon including Vietnamese and English Codeswitching, its functions and motivations However, a deeper look into the linguistic features, especially in terms of pragmatics of English CS in Vietnamese conversations has been few Thus, this study entitled “A Study on Linguistic Features of VietnameseEnglish Code–Switching in Vietnamese Conversations By FPT High School Students was set to investigate (1) the types of CS that are Đ used most frequently (2) the pragmatic features of CS utterances, (3) ại the attitudes of students and English teachers towards this 1.2 họ phenomenon Aims and objectives c The study aims at analysing the dominant types of Vietnamese - Đ English CS in Vietnamese conversations at Vietnamese high schools, the pragmatic features and the functions of CS in their conversations with N their teachers and peers at school Those are done to enrich the g ẵn understanding about CS in terms of pragmatics and from that preserve the purity of Vietnamese The study is targeted at: - Investigating the dominant type of V-E CS used by high school students in Vietnamese conversations - Analyzing the pragmatic features of V-E CS in Vietnamese conversations - Investigating the views of students towards V-E CS in Vietnamese conversations 1.3 Research questions In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the study, the following questions are set: What types of V-E CS are there conversations among students at FPT High School? What are the attitudes of students towards the use of V-E CS in Vietnamese conversations among students at FPT High School? Đ What are the pragmatic features V-E CS in Vietnamese ại conversations among students at FPT High School? họ 1.4 Scope of the study c This study primarily focuses on V-E CS in Vietnamese Đ conversations among 12 graders and 12 graders with their teachers at FPT High School Particularly in this study, pragmatic factors were studied N carefully and not towards syntax The reason for this is because most g ẵn students' CS is inserting words into sentences and paragraphs, so there is not much structure and content for in-depth study 1.5 Significance of the study This research was to delve into CS and its popularity among students who are studying English as a second language in a school to see whether CS caused any obstacles in communication or affected negatively the purity of Vietnamese 1.6 Organization of the study This study comprises of five main chapters as follows: Chapter 1, Introduction, includes the rationales, the scope of the study, the aims and objectives, the research questions and the significance of the study Chapter 2, Literature Review and Theoretical Background, provides a brief review of the previous studies related to the research and theoretical background for the study Chapter 3, Research Design and Methodology, presents the research Đ method, sampling, data collection and data analysis, the procedure of the ại research, the reliability and validity of the research họ Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, discusses the result of the data c analysis, finds out how and why code-switching is used in Đ communication and certain functions in a conversation Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, summarizes the issues studied N in the thesis, the implications and suggestions for future studies g ẵn CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Code-switching In this research, the definition for Code switching of MyersScotton (1989) which is the use of two or more languages in the same conversation, usually within the same conversational turn, or even within the same sentence of that turn seems to be the most suitable one since it Đ describes the phenomenon happening in the research context the most ại precisely Therefore, within this research, when the term CS is conversation c Types of Code-switching Đ 2.1.2 họ mentioned, it refers to the interwoven of two or more languages in a In this research, the author classified data into different types of N CS Particularly, the three common types that have just been mentioned g ẵn above which are “inter sentential, intra sentential and extra sentential” The criterion used in the analysis for determining a code-switch is the one used by Poplack (1980) 2.1.3 Function of bilingual speakers 2.1.4 Speech Act Theory 2.2 A Review of Previous Studies 2.2.1 switching Previous studies on Vietnamese and English Code- 2.2.2 Previous studies on the functional aspects of code- switching 2.2.3 2.3 Attitudes towards code switching of previous studies Summary This chapter provided some theoretical background on the definitions of CS, types of CS, Reasons for CS of bilingual speakers and Pragmatic features of CS In addition, this chapter gave the brief overview of codeswitching research, which have been carried out on Vietnamese and Đ English Code-Switching of FPT High School students and previous ại studies on the functional aspects of code-switching during the last few họ decades It also showed attitudes towards code-switching of previous studies Therefore, the theoretical framework would help establish better c understanding of the CS phenomenon and lay a good foundation to carry Đ out the research g ẵn N CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research design Based on the clear-cut theoretical background in the previous chapter, this chapter aimed at dealing with methods and procedures employed in the thesis Firstly, I described the methods, which supported each other in investigating the data and getting the results Then, techniques of data collection and data analysis were presented in detail The next step was to mention the procedures in which the problems Đ relating to the study are gradually solved Finally, instrumentation, ại sample and population, validity and reliability were stated in this chapter họ This research primarily used qualitative and quantitative c approaches to analyze the pragmatic features and the dominant type of Đ CS With the type of research seeking an in-depth understanding of the people involved, the qualitative is the most suitable design that allows N participants to expand their answers, use their own words to express their g ẵn thoughts Similarly, Hennink et al (2020) mention that when the participants of research are expected to tell their story and have a discussion in an in-depth interview or focus group discussion, qualitative research brings the most valid information 3.2 Research methods A number of methods such as statistic, descriptive and analytic methods were applied to achieve the desired outcomes of the study Recorders were placed during school time including group discussions, recess and classes at some classes The recordings were transcribed, and descriptive analysis was used to determine the frequency of each type of CS used by students Later, students were invited to explain the purpose for CS and share their opinions on the use of CS in general by doing a survey The results of the data from this such as words, phrases and sentences as well as their functions for CS were analyzed Content analysis method was used to interpret the pragmatic features of their CS utterances with CS as well as to understand students’ perspectives The answers to questionnaire were used as the data source Đ for the content analysis ại 3.3 Selected subjects and sampling of the study họ The participants of this study are 160 12 graders at FPT high c school of the school year 2021-2022, who have spent at least years Đ studying English with different levels of English proficiency in both written and spoken English With such a large population with varied g ẵn CS and analyze the pragmatic features N language abilities, the researcher to identify the frequent occurrences of Unlike other schools, besides the official English program implemented in most high schools in Vietnam, students at FPT are given an additional program The course book used in the program is the book series called Pathways containing levels, which is designed and issued by the National Geographic learning This is a 3-year program starting at level Foundations, Level or depending on students’ placement test’s result in the first year of high school Students move up to the next level after each school year Because of this additional program, students at FPT have classes of English per week, which is around classes more than average Therefore, they might have more exposure to English than students in other schools 3.4 Data collection instruments 3.4.1 Recordings Conversations in Vietnamese between students were recorded and analyzed with their consent to spot the utterances containing CS Đ Conversations would be about students’ daily matters when discussing ại with partners, telling stories, asking for help or all sorts of situations including chats about academic business From the recordings, the họ functions of CS were identified c 3.4.2 Questionnaire Đ The first questionnaire is to delve into the attitudes of high school students towards Vietnamese- English CS which they witness or N experience at school A mix of open-ended questions and closed-ended g ẵn questions designed for the purpose of gathering students’ viewpoints Open-ended questions allow survey takers to share their thoughts in detail with clear explanation which would ultimately collect better results This was an adaptation of the questionnaire in Nguyễn Thị Thu Phúc (2017) when she used a set of questions to gather the perspectives of students towards CS Her questionnaire consisted of many suitable questions for collecting data related to the perceptions of the respondents, which can be seen in her report of the survey result However, in her questionnaire, she used a list of close-ended questions leaving no chance for the respondents 10 to share their inner thoughts regarding the use of CS Therefore, some modifications were made in this research The survey takers also had to participate in a questionnaire having some questions asking about their use of CS according to their reflect and observations Students chose the best options for their answers on a likert scale A Likert scale posits that an attitude's strength/intensity is linear, i.e., on a scale ranging from Very comfortable, Đ Comfortable, Normal, Uncomfortable and Very uncomfortable and ại another scale ranging from Strongly agree to Strongly disagree This way students’ attitudes can be quantified Each of the five (or seven) họ responses, for example, would be assigned a numerical value that would c be used to assess the attitude under examination Likert scales can Đ evaluate frequency, quality, importance, and likelihood, among other things, in addition to assertions of agreement Data collection procedures g ẵn N 3.5 Step 1: Explaining the purposes and reasons of the research to the participants of the research Step 2: Setting up recording Step 3: Analyzing The researcher counted the frequency of English Vietnamese CS and classified the switches into different groups, specifically: inter-sentential, extra-sentential and intra-sentential Moreover, the switches were sorted based on pragmatic categories to elucidate the trends 11 Step 4: Distributing questionnaires to the students and teachers at FPT High School Step 5: Collecting the answers With close-ended answers, they will be collected and the researcher will make tables or graphs to demonstrate the results of the questionnaire Turning to open-ended answers, responses will be analyzed to find out the similarities or the trends to reach conclusions Đ ại 3.6 Data Analysis From the recordings that the researcher gathered, the frequency họ of each sort of CS is transformed into percentage form and collated into figures and pie charts These numerical data served as the responses to c the research questions through systematic analysis The questionnaire was Đ created using a systematic pattern in order to collect accurate and helpful data on certain study-related topics The researcher then used audio N recordings to capture the CS's natural speech patterns in classroom g ẵn interactions Following that, descriptive statistics were used to summarize the tape-recorded talks that had been written down After compiling the transcripts of Vietnamese-English talks, the CS occurrences in each language were examined to pinpoint the purposes utilized in each of the 121 recordings by various speakers in various settings Each sample was then explained in detail Finally, recommendations and conclusions were offered Additionally, the interview was the qualitative research method that was employed the most The advantage of one-on-one interaction between the researcher and respondents, which enhanced the direct 12 explanations and clarification, made interviewing a highly effective method for gathering data To determine the prevalence and purposes of CS, the researcher listened to the interviews, read the transcripts of the participant discussions, and examined the instances of CS 3.7 Validity and reliability The data collected, particularly the recordings have high levels of validity and reliability since V-E CS happened and was gathered from Đ recorded spontaneous conversations in a 45-minute class at school ại Besides, to maximize the number of V-E CS occurrence collected, recorders were randomly put in 16 classes at FPT high school with their họ consent c In terms of the questionnaires, before distributing the questionnaires Đ to students and teachers, they were sent to 10 students to collect their Summary g ẵn 3.6 N collect the desired outcome answers to make sure that the questions are purposeful and can help In short, such parts as research design, data collection and data analysis were mentioned in detail in this chapter Moreover, research procedures as well as reliability and validity were also presented specifically Thus, the discussion of findings in chapter could be described and compared scientifically thanks to the careful and reasonable preparation of this chapter 13 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSION 4.1 The frequency and the types of CS 4.1.1 The frequency of V-E CS The frequency of V-E CS used in vietnamese conversations according to observing students Very often Often Sometimes Rarely Never ại Đ 20 họ 57 12 c Đ g ẵn N Figure 4.1 The frequency of V-E CS used in Vietnamese Conversations according to observing students T h e f r e q u e n c y o f V- E C S u s e d by students at FPT high school Very often Often Sometimes Rarely Never 9, 9% 9, 9% 12, 12% 36, 37% 33, 33% Types Figure of CS in4.2 student’s conversations The frequency of V-E CS used by students at FPT high 4.1.2.1 Intra-sentential code-switching school 4.1.2 14 4.1.2.2 Inter-sentential code-switching 4.1.2.3 4.1.2.3 Extra-sentential CS The frequency of each type of CS 110% 90% 70% 50% 90 Đ 30% ại 10% Intra-sentential Inter-sentential Extra-sentential họ c Figure 4.3 The frequency of each type of CS Đ The pragmatic features of V-E CS in communication process 4.2 Talking about a specific topic 4.2.2 Using jargons and acronyms for convenience 4.3.4 Communicating faster g ẵn 4.2.3 Interjecting N 4.2.1 15 Functions of V-E CS 80 65 60 40 30 20 15 20 Communicating Talking faster about Using aJargons specificortopic Acronyms for convenience Interjecting Functions of E-V CS Đ ại Figure 4.4 Functions of V-E CS Students’ views towards the use of V-E CS in conversations c họ 4.3 Đ Students' attitude towards V-E CS N g ẵn Depends on situations Uncomfortable Normal Comfortable 10 20 30 40 50 Figure 4.5 Students’ views of V-E CS 60 70 16 Students' view towards the impacts of V-E CS in communication 6.2 50.6 43.2 Đ Positive impacts Negative impacts Depends on different situations ại họ Figure 4.6 Students’ view towards the impacts of V-E CS in communication 4.4 Summary c The purpose of this section was shown: (1) how frequency of Đ using code switching at school of FPT High students; (2) types of CS in students’ conversations and (3) pragmatic features of V-E CS in g ẵn N communication process Some respondents viewed CS as a meaningful device rather than a possible threat to the longevity of Vietnamese On another note, the study also attempted to investigate what the respondents felt about CS in different settings Overall, it is reported that the participants could distinguish between different settings to code-switch whereby switching in a professional setting is good while switching in a social setting is not good Those who are not sure about the positive or negative influence of CS tend to think that: “Whether or not the code-switching phenomenon is good, it is good when the purpose of communication has been fulfilled” 17 They state that it is a matter of personal preference to choose whether using CS as a strategy in communication CS can be a usable tool when it is used properly to serve important functions in conversations at school In the next chapter, the researcher would present the conclusions, what was learned from this study, why this was important, and what suggestions and implications for using CS effectively for FPT High students ại Đ The respondents viewed CS as a meaningful device rather than a possible threat to the longevity of Vietnamese On another note, the study họ also attempted to investigate what the respondents felt about CS in different settings Overall, it is reported that the participants could c distinguish between different settings to code-switch whereby switching Đ in a professional setting is good while switching in a social setting is not good g ẵn N 18 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1 Conclusion In this study, the phenomenon of using CS school was analyzed with quantitative and qualitative approaches The findings clearly answered the three research questions posed in this study based on the framework of Gumperz (1977), the functions for CS were found The study aimed to provide an overall view of the functions that Đ CS fulfills in conversations The excerpts of Vietnamese utterances and ại the equivalent English translations were given within parenthesis Many specific functions of using CS in each example were categorized and họ identified Each function was analysed and discussed in accordance with c the framework adapted from Gumperz (1977) and Nguyễn Thị Thu Phúc Đ (2017) and Auer which stressed that speakers modified their choice of codes according to social factors such as topic, participants, and settings N It was found from the data collected that the participants switched to g ẵn English to talk about a particular topic, to use interjection or to communicate faster and to use jargons and acronyms for convenience The data presented a very rich description of speakers’ use of CS as communication strategy Firstly, V-E CS used by students at FPT high school happened very frequently and the primary type of CS was intrasentential CS From the recordings, students switched code primarily to smoothen the conversation and to use jargons and acronyms for convenience Students at FPT high school mostly thought that there were many reasons why they as well as their friends switched codes while communicating The biggest impact is probably the impact of technology 19 which has dominantly appeared in their speech Words that are commonly shown on their phones or laptop or social media and games were used in the middle of a Vietnamese sentence really frequently without causing trouble to listeners This is because the study only focused on the conversations among students, not students with teachers and with their parents This means CS in students’ conversations not pose a threat on the communicating process among them The study also examined many students' opinions about the phenomenon of CS when Đ communicating that they heard and how they switched code themselves ại In general, most students had a positive view of CS and thought that the họ use of CS had almost no negative impact on the communication process between students They have attributed this to the high popularity of the c words among young people in general, especially those that are widely Đ used on social media Another reason was that the students' CS level was not high and not long Most students switched codes at the low levels, N mainly small words and phrases, but have not yet reached the CS level in g ẵn the form of full sentences However, mixed opinions were inevitable Many students disliked using CS too often and inappropriately They predicted that communication will be difficult and quite time-consuming if the speaker and the listener not have the same understanding of English or not understand the terms, abbreviations, and nicknames of certain things in English Some students claimed CS will destroy the purity of the Vietnamese language as in Vietnamese, conversations always need to sign social relationships and ranks between the conversers This means 20 that when talking to older people, English expressions sometimes eliminate the formality or the respect in a sentence For example, “dạ” in Vietnamese exactly means “yes” or “ok” in English, but “dạ” is used when an inferior person talks to her or his superior such as someone older than him or her This special meaning is absent in “yes” or “ok” in English Therefore, if the popularity of this way of talking spreads, the purity of Vietnamese can be affected But more importantly, they also acknowledged that CS is an effective way to transfer messages Đ Moreover, the observation and the analysis of the data reveals mixed ại attitudes towards CS behaviour at school It seems that students who were họ better at the language felt comfortable with the use of CS due to its necessity to support comprehension Some of them thought that the use of c the English language should be maximized because a lot of materials and Đ references in their school are available in English N 5.2 Implications g ẵn CS can be a useful tool when it is used properly to serve important functions in school conversations The findings of the study may be used to develop practical solutions in both the communication and academic environments This study has made significant contributions to foreign language teaching and learning methodology Language is a subject that takes a great deal of practice People who wish to increase their language acquisition skills should practice recalling vocabulary, sentence structures, and grammatical rules Language growth can be aided by watching movies, 21 ads, or listening to music in the target language The occurrences of CS should be welcomed in order to improve English proficiency However, this should be done consciously in order to avoid communication failures, especially to people whose English is limited and exposure to English is not often Also, in order to avoid misunderstandings, speakers should add some clarification after V-E CS which can affect the speed of Đ communication, especially in urgent situations Based on the research, CS ại could be seen in a more positive way Although using CS extensively could distort the purity of the Vietnamese language, CS should be used as họ a communicative strategy, especially the underlying benefits that can be c elicited from skillfully alternating between the two languages The ability Đ to use language effectively at school plays an important role in dealing with problems at school This research could have valuable implications N with regard to cross cultural communication and identity The study g ẵn results can also be applied to practical solutions, both in communication and academic environment Language is a subject that requires much practice People who want to improve their learning language must practice remembering words, sentence structures, grammars Watching movies, advertisements or listening to music in the target language can encourage one’s language development CS is neither a random phenomenon nor a sign of linguistic deficiency Rather, it is a negotiation between language use and the communicative strategies of speakers Therefore, CS should be employed as a tool to achieve communication intents 22 In order to implement CS effectively and maintain the purity of Vietnamese, students should always CS with consciousness, which means that they have to be aware of the people that they are talking to in order to make the right choice of CS If the people that they are talking to are close to them and certainly have no difficulties in understanding what they mean with CS, they can use CS to certain amount as long as it serves the communication purposes as mentioned In other situations, if the speakers not know much about English or have little interaction with Đ it, students should maintain talking in Vietnamese only ại 5.3 Limitations họ Due to the lack of facilities and the matters of privacy, the c research only explore how CS works in daily conversations among the Đ students Texting messages, languages used on social media and conversations in other contexts such as at home are not focused exact situation of Vietnamese-English CS g ẵn N Therefore, results about this CS phenomenon cannot demonstrate the Besides the positive contributions, there are several unavoidable limitations that would have affected the data collection and the data analysis of this study Firstly, the sample size consisted of 200 participants This number is limited and hence it could be concluded that the findings from this research might not be sufficient to make major generalizations Secondly, the researcher did not have enough time to test all 160 respondents’ English proficiency level with standard tests to check whether the English efficiency of students could generate any 23 differences in students’ attitudes towards CS This limitation may have influenced the credibility of the study There should be a clear unity in evaluating the respondents’ English proficiency level Besides, this could be a better study if it was to delve into the effect of CS in English classes, especially in speaking lessons to measure the benefits and to check weather students could learn more effectively with the involvement of their mother-tongue or the class should be done ại Đ in only English Another good idea is to delve into the conversations among họ students with parents and teachers who are in different generations in order to find out more influence of the use of CS c Đ 5.4 Recommendations Later research whose aims at delving into CS can investigate the N use of V-E CS in English classes where English is mainly used and g ẵn students can only allow to code switch when they encounter communicating problems By this, we can understand the characteristics of Vietnamese interwoven with English in an English conversations