Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards code switching in EFL classrooms at rural high schools

ABSTRACT The use of mother tongue or code-switching in the EFL English as a foreign language classrooms has created controversy for many years and its role in the different teaching met

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

các lớp học tiếng Anh tại các trường cấp 3 nông thôn)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

HANOI-2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

các lớp học tiếng Anh tại các trường cấp 3 nông thôn)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Assoc Dr Lê Văn Canh, PhD

HANOI-2019

A special word of thanks to my colleagues and my students in rural high schools in Thanh Hoa province for their effective cooperation in collecting data for completing this research

Last by not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice I received to finish this academic work

DECLARATION

I declare that this thesis is the result of my own work submitted for the Master of Art degree in English Teaching Methodology at Faculty of Post - Graduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and has not been previously submitted to any other universities for any degrees This work was finished with the contributions of other researchers which were indicated clearly with the references The study was done under the guidance of Associated Professor

Le Van Canh at Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies

Approved by SUPERVISOR

(Signature and fullname)

Lê Văn Canh

Date:………

Hanoi, 2019

Trần Thị Hòa

ABSTRACT

The use of mother tongue or code-switching in the EFL (English as a foreign language) classrooms has created controversy for many years and its role in the different teaching methods that have been developed has also been clearly defined Conducted in the context of a Vietnamese rural area, the study is to examine the teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward code-switching use in English classrooms, find out if there are differences between students’ and teachers’ attitudes and identify how often teachers codeswitch

in EFL classrooms This research was conducted at two rural high schools in Thanh Hoa province, one of them where I was working and 50 students and 6 teachers participated in the study Data was collected by means of recorded lesson observations, interviews and questionnaires In general, the results of this study showed that both teachers and students were positive towards the use of mother tongue (Vietnamese) in English classrooms but only under certain circumstances The use of code-switching means using both English and Vietnamese in EFL classrooms does not seem to hinder their English learning process, but having to speak only English does make students have negative feelings because they are students in a rural area, their ability and learning condition are limited

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ALM: Audio-Lingual Method CLT: Communicative Language Teaching EFL: English as a foreign Language

FL: Foreign language GMT: Grammar Translation Method L1: First language

L2: Second language TL: Target language

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

DECLARATION ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and Objectives of the Research 2

3 Research Questions 2

4 Scope of the Study 3

5 Significance of the Study 3

6 Structural Organization of the Thesis 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1.1 Definition of Code-switching 6

1.2 History of language teaching methods focusing on code-switching in EFL classroom 6

1.3 Arguments about the use of code-switching or L1 in EFL classrooms 8

1.3.1 Arguments against using code-switching or L1 in EFL classrooms 8

1.3.2 Arguments in favour of code-switching in EFL classrooms 10

1.4 Studies focusing on teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms 12

1.4.1 The attitudes of teachers and students 12

1.4.2 Amount of code-switching use 15

1.4.3 Situations of code-switching use 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 17

2.1 Research Methodology 17

2.2 Setting and participants 17

2.3 Data collection instruments and procedure 17

2.3.1 Classroom Observation 17

2.3.2 Questionnaires 18

2.3.3 Interview 18

2.4 Data analysis procedure 19

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 20

3.1 Data analysis 20

3.1.1 Classroom observation analysis 20

3.1.2 Analysis of teachers’ interviews results 25

3.1.3 Analysis of students’ questionnaire results 29

3.2 Discussion 34

3.2.1 How often do teachers codeswitch on average in the lesson? 34

3.2.2 What are the attitudes of the teachers towards code-switching? 35

3.2.3 What are the attitudes of the students towards code-switching? 35

3.2.4 Are there any differences between students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching? 36

PART C: CONCLUSION 38

REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I

Appendix 1 I Appendix 2 XI Appendix 3 XII

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 3.1: Situations of teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms 22

Table 3.2: The results of students’ multiple choice questions 29

Table 3.3: Suitable amount of English 32

Figure 3.1: The amount of code-switching use in observed classes 20

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

There has been a growing interest in learning English as a second/foreign language over the last few decades This is due to the important role English plays in almost every aspect of life nowadays, starting from education to business (Hasman 2004) In addition, English has become a global lingua franca and a mean of international communication round the world (Brutt-Griffle, 1998) It has allowed people from different cultures and linguistic backgrounds to communicate and share their knowledge and expertise Moreover, English has become “a key part of the educational strategy in most countries” (Graddol, 2006 p.70) This explains why governments have exerted

to introduce English language as early as possible to their educational systems, in an attempt to help their citizens to be effective users of the target language in the future

In the process of teaching and learning foreign language, using mother tongue or foreign language only in the classroom remains virtually unquestioned This has been still controversy topic for many ages, especially Communicative Language Teaching become more popular In global scale, many studies were conducted to investigate the code-switching technique or the use of mother tongue in EFL (English as a foreign language) classrooms with the different results Ellis (1984), Wong-Fillmore (1985), Chaudron (1988), Lightbown (2001), believe that teachers should aim at creating a pure foreign language environment since they are the sole linguistic models for the students and that code-switching will result in negative transfer in FL learning On the contrary, researchers in support of crosslingual (code-switching) teaching strategy including Tikunoff and Vazquez-Faria (1982),

Levine (2003), Chen Liping (2004), etc., argue that the first language can promote the learning of target language and the first language deserves a place in foreign language classroom And code-switching is a good strategy of efficiency in foreign language classrooms In Vietnam, some researchers also investigated the attitudes of teachers and students towards the code-switching

in EFL classrooms at Universities, English center and High schools However, it is very difficult to find out a study which is conducted in a rural area where students’ levels are very low and the teachers’ and learners’ beliefs about learning English are different from people in urban environments That is reason why the researcher conducted this study in this context

2 Aims and Objectives of the Research

This research project aims to explore teachers’ and students’ opinions regarding code-switching use in English classrooms in the context of rural High schools To achieve the above aims, the following objectives are set for exploration:

- Examining the teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards code-switching use

in English classrooms at 2 rural High schools

- Identifying if there are the differences between students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching in EFL classrooms

- Identifying how often teachers codeswitch in their lessons

3.Research Questions

The aim of this investigation is to explore the attitudes of rural teachers and students towards the use of code-switching in EFL classrooms The current study aims to answer the following research questions:

- How often do teachers codeswitch on average in the lesson?

- What are the attitudes of the teachers towards code-switching?

- What are the attitudes of the students towards code-switching?

- Are there any differences between students’ and teachers’ attitudes

towards code-switching?

4 Scope of the Study

Within the framework of this minor thesis, the study focused on both students’ and teachers’ attitudes (the teachers of English) towards the code-switching in English classrooms at High schools in rural area The data for analysis is taken from teachers’ interviews and observations and students’ questionnaires at some High schools The participants are 6 teachers of English and one hundred students at these High schools in Thanh Hoa province

5 Significance of the Study

Educational policy-makers in a lot of countries seem to have adopted the monolingual approach Although there are a lot of researches that support the inclusion of learners’ mother tongue (Schweers, 1999; Swain & Lapkin, 2000; Burden, 2001; Prodromou 2002; Tang 2002; Al-Nofaie, 2010), such pedagogical decisions regarding the exclusion of learners’ the first language have been made on “unexamined and taken-for-granted assumptions (Auerbach, 1993, p.29) Moreover, there does not seem to be enough evidence that both teachers’ and students’ input has been taken into consideration Since teachers and students are the most important key players in the education, a lot of studies have been carried out to investigate their perceptions towards the use of learners’ mother tongue in learning another language This study focused on investigating the students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching in EFL classrooms at rural High schools In rural area, most of students were not taught listening and speaking skills carefully at secondary schools, especially listening lessons are often ignored

The rural classrooms always have 40-45 students with different levels of English Thus, as a mentioned above, this research is to examine the teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the use of code-switching in English classrooms in order to find out if its use gives learners benefits and reduces the anxiety in learning process and how to use code-switching effectively Every teacher of English can use the results of this study as a reference to consider some change if needed in teacher training process

6 Structural Organization of the Thesis

The study consists of three main parts, namely Introduction, Development and Conclusion:

- Chapter 1: Literature Review

This chapter provides an overview of definition and history of code-switching technique in EFL classrooms, some arguments for and against mother tongue use as well as the reviews of related works in this topic

- Chapter 2: Methodology

It presents the subject of study, research instruments, collecting data procedure and data analysis procedure from which answers for the research questions

- Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion

The data collection from observations, interviews and questionnaires are analyzed in this chapter so the findings and discussion will be presented

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1.Definition of Code-switching

The concept of code was put forward by Bernstein (1971) It refers to any

system of signals, such as numbers, words, which carries concrete meaning

Wardhaugh pointed out that the term code is neutral term rather than terms such as dialect, language, style, pidgin and creole which are inclined to

arouse emotions Code can be used to refer to “any kind of system that two or more people employ for communication” (p.86)

In the studies of code-switching, there have been various definitions of the term “code-switching” Gumperz referred to it as “the juxtaposition within the same speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or subsystems” (Gumperz, 1982, p.59)

Cook (2000, p.83) defines code-switching as the process of “going from one language varieties within a single conversation or utterance”

In the context of foreign language classroom, Liu Jingxia (2010) views code-switching as the alternate use of the first language and the target language, a mean of communication by language teachers when the need arises As this study was conducted in the context where English was taught and studied as a foreign language, Jingxia’s above definition of code-switching is adopted

1.2 History of language teaching methods focusing on code-switching in EFL classroom

In the history of foreign language (FL) teaching, different linguistics suggested various methods and approaches which were used for different periods The role of the first language in language teaching is one of the most

long-standing controversies in the history of language pedagogy (Stern, 1992) The following glimpse in the historical sequence of the most-recognized language teaching methods will highlight periodic changes in the role of L1 in foreign language teaching

In the early years of the nineteenth century in Western country, the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) was the standard way of FL teaching Foreign language was taught through grammar illustration, bilingual vocabulary lists and translation exercises At this time, it was believed that to learn a language was to read its literature In GTM classrooms, the students’ native language is the “ medium of instruction”, which is used to explain new item and to make comparisons between L1 and L2 (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) In other words, FL teachers mostly codeswitch in their GTM classrooms

However, some other linguistics strongly criticized the Grammar Translation Method In the late nineteenth century, the Western world experienced a big change in the need of learning languages with the aim of communicating This led to the emergence of the Direct Method, which pays its whole attention to the spoken language The Direct Method is based on the belief that FL learning should be an imitation of L1 learning In this light, learners should be immersed in the target language (TL) through the use of that TL “as a mean of instruction and communication in the language classroom”, and through “the avoidance of the use of L1 and translation as a technique” (Stern, 1983) After its highest popularity during the period from the late nineteenth century to the first quarter of the twentieth century, the Direct Method began to decline However, the method has laid foundation upon which many of the later methods and approaches expanded and developed Among them are the Audio-lingual Method and Communicative Approach

Audio-lingual Method (ALM), which was suggested by American linguistics in 1950s, aims to develop communicative competence of students

by the repetition of dialogues and drills Supporting this method, Larsen- Freeman (2000 cited in Vu Thi Thu Trang, 2016) says the more often something is repeated, the stronger the habit and the greater the learning In ALM classroom, the use of the first language is forbidden because understanding context as well as grammatical explanation are not necessary Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has the same communicative purpose to ALM, the CLT has served as a major source of influence on language teaching practise around the world since its inception in the 1970s (Richards, 2006) The author also suggests a lot of classroom activities that best facilitate learning such as group work, pair work, role play in CLT classroom.The Communicative Approach, which has attracted most attention from the language teaching profession during the fast five decades, the restricted use of learners’ mother tongue is allowed where feasible and translation may be used when learners find it essential and helpful (Ellis, 2003)

In the twentieth century, there were some popular teaching methods, which tried to avoid using code-switching or the student’s L1 to develop communicative language teaching in EFL classroom However, code-switching in classroom is still issue which raises many debates among linguistics, foreign language teachers and learners in the world

1.3.Arguments about the use of code-switching or L1 in EFL classrooms

1.3.1 Arguments against using code-switching or L1 in EFL classrooms

Since 1980, code-switching as a specific technique in foreign language got much attention Some scholars hold a positive attitude for using this technique in EFL classrooms, whereas some have negative attitude for using code-switching in EFL classrooms Scholars such as Ellis (1984), Wong-

Fillmore (1985), Chaudron (1988), Light (2001) (cited in Liu Jingxia, 2010) advocate that teachers should create a pure linguistics environment in EFL classrooms and code-switching to L1 by EFL teachers will have a negative impact on target or foreign language learning

According to Cook (2001), arguments against teachers using students’ mother tongue in the literature are generally organized into three following reasons:

1 The learning of L2 should model the learning of an L1 (through maximum exposure to the L2)

2 Successful learning involves the separation and distinction of L1 and L2

3 Students should be shown the importance of the L2 through its continual use

(Cook, 2001, p412) The first reason is based on the rationale from childhood, children listen, imitate and respond to what they hear around them and then they succeed in mastering their mother tongue Therefore, many linguistics suggest that language learners should be in the surrounding sound environment to get the best result According to Krashen and Terrell (1983), as cited in Salah & Farrah (2012), indicate that L1 use should be excluded in the English classroom to increase students’ exposure to the target language Phillipson (1992, cited in Salah & Farrah, 2012) who has same view, argue that the more learners exposure to the target language, the more quickly will they learn Turnbull (2001) also mentions that students do not benefit if teachers rely too much on using their students’ mother tongue

Regarding to Cook’s second principle, the supporters of the Monolingual Approach have stated that translating between L1 and L2 can be dangerous as it encourages the belief that there are equivalents between the language, which is not always the case (Pracek, 2003) They believe that

successful FL acquisition depends on keeping L2 separate from L1 One main reason for thinking this way is the fear of L1 interference (Cook, 2001) Karshen (1981) in his influential “Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning” also suggests that L1 is a source of errors in learners’ foreign language performance.The proponents of target language exclusivity argue that it is not necessary for learners to understand everything that is said

to them by the teacher and that switching to the first language undermines the process of learning (F Chambers, 1991; Halliwell & Jones, 1991; Macdonald, 1993) For them, teaching entirely through the TL makes the language real, allows learners to experience unpredictability, and develops the learners’ own in-built language system (cited in Liu Jingxia, 2010)

Regarding Cook’s third point, Pachler & Field mention that the use of L2 only in the classroom does help demonstrate the L2’ importance and can portray the usage of the language being studied (2001, p.86) According to Sharma (2006), the rationale for using only English in EFL classroom is that the more students are exposed to English, the faster they learn Many monolingual approaches agree with this view, they think that the best way to learn language is if learners are forced to use it

1.3.2.Arguments in favour of code-switching in EFL classrooms

The proponents of the bilingual approach have focused their efforts o three points to discredit the monolingual approach According to Philipson (1992, p.191), the biggest problem of the monolingual approach is that “it is impractical” There is the fact that non-native speakers account for the vast majority of teachers of English across the world (Hawks, 2001), cited in Miles, 2004, p.9) These English teachers are usually not good enough to carry out the English-only teaching in the classroom; thus, the insistence on the monolingual approach may result in their reduced ability to communicate

and consequently their reduced teaching performance (Miles, 2004, p.9) Another reason for the monolingual approach’s impracticality is that the exclusion of L1 in lower-level monolingual classes is practically impossible (Nunan & Lamb, 1996) As a result, the English-only teaching in the classroom may create “the alienation of learners from the learning process” (Pachler & Field, 2001)

More and more researchers, such as Stern (1992) and Cook (2000, 2001) argued that students’ L1 deserves a place in FL classrooms They attempted to question the long-held belief of excluding the L1 from the classroom Cook (2000) believed that to let students use their mother tongue

is a humanistic approach, as it permits them to say what they really want to say The use of students’ L1 is a “learner- preferred strategy” (p.242) Stern (1992) suggested that it may be the time to “reconsider” the use of crosslingual strategy, though in theory language teaching today is entirely intralingual The learner inevitably works from an L1 reference base, so it can

be helpful for him to “orient himself in the L2 through the L1 medium or by relating L2 phenomena to their equivalents in L1” (Stern, 1992, p.285) Moreover, Stern quoted several students’ far less positive opinions on the exclusive use of the TL

Atkinson (1987, p.42) also stated that the mother tongue use in the form of translation technique is a preferred learning strategy for most learners This idea has been voiced earlier by Danchev (1982, cited by Christine Manara, 2007) who states that “translation is a natural phenomenon and an inevitable part of second language acquisition even where no formal classroom learning occurs”

L1 use also reduces the affective barriers to L2 acquisition According

to D’Annulizios (1991), Garcia (1991), Hemmindinger (1987), Shamash

(1990), Strei (1992), (cited in Christine Manara 2007), they show that the use

of L1 lowers students’ language anxiety and enhances positive affective environment for the students to make a progress in their L2 learning Moreover it takes into account students’ sociocultural factors, facilitates incorporation of learners’ life experiences, and allows for learner centered curriculum development

Additionally, some linguistics think that L1 can be used as a tool for thought Vygotsky (1986) asserts that “L1 would quite naturally serve as a tool to help students think about and make sense of the structures, content and meaning of the L2 texts they read” (see Upton & Lee-Thompson, 2001, p.491) Using mother tongue while discussing with peers, learners provide each other “scaffolded help” Upton and Lee-Thompson’s study finds that L1 use to mediate L2 reading comprehension is not only a reading strategy (translation) but also a tool for creating a cognitive space in which the readers can facilitate their own understanding of the text (2001, p.491)

Teaching in the TL does have benefits but teaching in TL only, will not guarantee learning among the students (Pachler & Field, 2001, p.101), but excluding it may “impede learning” (Auerbach, 1993, p.16 cited in Vu Thi Thu Trang, 2016)

1.4.Studies focusing on teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms

1.4.1 The attitudes of teachers and students

In Vietnam and in other parts of the world, there are a number of studies which have considered the attitudes and perceptions towards the codeswitch to L1 in the EFL classrooms They can be classified into three categories: Those which only investigate the attitudes of language learners, those which only analyse the attitudes of language teacher and others explore the attitudes of both language learners and teachers

In the first study, Schweers (1999, cited in Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh, 2011) conducted a study with EFL students and their teachers at his Puerto Rican university and found that 88.7 percent of the students and 100 percent

of the teachers felt that Spanish should be used in their English classes Eighty-six percent of the students felt that their L1 helps them to feel “less lost” Schweers concluded that he “pedagogical and affective benefits of L1 use justify its limited and judicious use”

Another important study was carried out by Burden (2001) It explored the issue of when learners and their teachers felt there was a need to use Japanese in English classes The results indicated that there was a general agreement between teachers and students regarding the importance of L1 use

in the TL classes The surveyed teachers and students also believed that it was acceptable to use L1 to explain new vocabulary, give instructions, teach grammar and check comprehension Burden emphasized the value of occasional inclusion of L1 in L2 classes to meet learners’ psychological need

of not portraying their mother tongue as an inferior to the teaching language

In an Arab context, Al-Nofaie (2010) carried out research to examine the Saudi teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards using Arabic as a facilitating learning tool in the English classroom The findings indicated that the study participants had positive attitudes toward using L1 in EFL classes Both teachers and students were convinced of the value of limited and judicious use of Arabic in English classes They believed that excessive use of Arabic would hinder their learning and affect it negatively They also preferred to use Arabic to a) give exam instructions, b) translate new words, and c) contrast between English and Arabic

Tang (2002) researched both students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards using mother tongue (Chinese) during English classrooms The reveals that

the use of L1 in L2 classes does not hinder L2 learning but helps teaching and learning They saw the value of using L1 to discuss difficult grammatical rules and to explain challenging vocabulary items, to practice new phrases and expression Tang concluded that “limited and judicious use of the mother tongue in EFL class does not reduce students’ exposure to English, but rather than can assist in the teaching and learning processes” (p.41)

According to Cianflone (2009), he researched L1 use in English courses at University of Messina in Italy The results claim that the interviewed teachers seem favorable to L1 use in terms of explaining grammar, vocabulary items, and difficult concepts as well as getting general comprehension It is also concluded that in university level, such use may save time and increase students’ motivation

In Vietnam, many researches were conducted in high schools, universities and English center The results in the study by Kieu Hang Kim Anh (2010, cited in Vu Thi Thu Trang, 2016) which investigates the teachers’ attitude in three universities in Ho Chi Minh city, presents the possible useful role of Vietnamese in several situation but it should not be overused Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh (2011) conducted a research to investigate both teachers and students’ attitudes at Ba Vi high school The result shows that there are a lot

of benefits of L1 use on facilitating students’ comprehension and create a confident environment for EFL classes Conducted in May School English Center in Hanoi, the study by Vu Thi Thu Trang (2016) which investigates teachers’ attitudes, highlights that teachers’ use of Vietnamese (L1) is unavoidable when teachers and learners share the same L1 although teachers always try to minimize its use in EFL classroom for young learners

1.4.2.Amount of code-switching use

Evidence from many studies reveals that in the different contexts, there is a variety of amount of code-switching use in EFL classrooms For instance, Turnbull (reported in Turnbull 2001; Turnbull & Arnett 2002) analyzed the L1 and TL “functional units” in the discourse of four teachers of French in Canada secondary schools He found that the use of L1 (English) ranged from 28% to 78% Kim & Elder (2005, cited in Vu Thi Thu Trang, 2016) examined the discourse of seven native-speaker secondary-school teachers of Japanese, Korean, German and French in New Zealand and found a range from 12% to 77% use of the students’ L1 (English) In South Korea, Liu et al (2004) calculated the percentage of L1 (Korean) and TL words in the lessons of thirteen high school teachers of English and found that their use of L1 ranged from only 10% to 90%

In Vietnam, according to Vu Thi Thu Trang (2016), the proportion of mother tongue used by teacher in the classroom depends on the level and age

of students, types of lessons and stages in each lesson, but they would try to use English as much as possible for their students to exposure to L2 She conducted group interview with five female teachers and ten observations in May School English Center and the results revealed that Vietnamese use was about 20 percent to 91 percent

1.4.3.Situations of code-switching use

Many linguistics have investigated the benefits of code-switching in EFl classrooms and they look over in which situations the teachers and students often use mother tongue Atkinson (1987), who believes in the great potential

of L1 “as a classroom resource” (Atkinson, 1987, p.241), provided extensive knowledge on where to use mother tongue in EFL classrooms:

1 Eliciting language (all levels)

2 Checking comprehension (all levels)

3 Giving instructions (early levels)

4 Co-operation among learners

5 Discussions of classroom methodology (early levels)

6 Presentations and reinforcement of language (mainly early levels)

7 Checking for sense

8 Testing

Auerbach (1993, p.9) also listed the reasons of using mother tongue in her study such as : a) Negotiation of the syllabus and the lesson; b) Record keeping; c) Classroom management; d) Scene setting; e) Language analysis; f) Presentation of rules government; g) Phonology, morphology and spelling; h) Discussion of across - cultural issues; instructions of prompts; i) Explanation of errors; j) Assessment of comprehension

In the context of Vietnam, Kieu Hang Kim Anh found out three reasons which teacher participants use mother tongue in their classes: “explaining grammatical points” (75%); “explaining new words” (67%); “checking for understanding” (67%) The findings of the study by Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh (2011) highlighted some situations in which Vietnamese appeared to be helpful option Data from her research instruments shows that the most common uses among the teachers were for explaining complex grammar structures, giving the meanings of new words and clarifying the difficult abstract ideas She indicates that the use of Vietnamese in these situations not only made the teachers feel more confident but also help students understand the lesson better In Vu Thi Thu Trang’s study (2016), she indicates some common situations that teachers would employ mother tongue were explaining grammar points (especially in high level classes); explaining difficult and abstract vocabulary; giving instruction; eliciting and creating rapport

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research Methodology

As the purpose of this study is to find out the teachers’ and students’ opinions of code-switching in English language lesson, a survey method is used

2.2 Setting and participants

The study was carried out at two High schools, which are located in rural towns in Thanh Hoa province A High school was established in 1999 in Ngoc Lac town and had total of 1100 students and 6 teachers of English And the other was set up in 1977 in Lam Son town and had total of 1150 students and 4 English of teachers Most of the students were at low and medium English proficiency levels They do not have enough motivation to study English hard, they just learn this language because it is a compulsory subject

at school Their main reason for low learning English motivation is that English test of National High school graduation examination consists of 50 multiple choice questions completely so the students do not need to study this subject seriously to get 1.5 point-the save mark for each test

The participants of the study included 6 teachers of English (2 males and 4 females), who have been teaching English at rural high school for at least 6 years, and 100 students who have been learning English for 5-10 years Like students, all the teachers are Vietnamese so their first language is Vietnamese

2.3 Data collection instruments and procedure

2.3.1.Classroom Observation

In the study, the researcher observed 6 classes from grade 10 to grade 12 during 45 minutes each in two high schools to get information about the practice of teachers’ code-switching use in EFL classrooms In all classroom

observations, the researcher as a non-participant observer sat in the corner of the class, recorded and took notes during the lessons The researcher’s aims were to examine the situations in which teachers and students often use Vietnamese in English classes to consider choose the questions in the questionnaires and interviews and find out whether the use of code-switching in EFL classrooms had benefits or disadvantages in learning and teaching English

2.3.2 Questionnaires

The study used questionnaires to collect the data from students, they consisted

of 11 questions, which were mixed of 3 open-ended and 8 multiple choice questions The questionnaire was set up in Vietnamese so that students can understand and answer them more easily and correctly They was distributed

to 100 students to elicit pertinent data to find out their attitudes towards switching in EFL classrooms

The questionnaire concluded two parts: the first one collected some individual information of participants such as name, age, sex, educational background The other was questions to elicit their thoughts and wishes in using code-switching in English lessons

All the questionnaires were filled in seriously by the students and returned to the researcher

2.3.3 Interview

After the six classroom observations, the researcher conducted interviews with 6 teachers from two high schools: 4 females and 2 males, who were chosen randomly and at the different ages

There were 6 interview open questions and they were conducted

in both English and Vietnamese so that the old teachers can understand and express their thoughts easily and comfortably The researcher took notes their answers as important data to investigate their attitudes toward code-switching

and the reasons for accepting or avoiding Vietnamese use in English classrooms

2.4 Data analysis procedure

The analysis was based on the notes and the transcripts of the classroom observations, the responses of the interviews and questionnaire Firstly, data of the class observations which was collected from written notes and tape recordings,was analysed, summarized to elicit the frequency of code-switching use and situations to use it Secondly, after summarizing the data in questionnaire the researcher presented into the sections of the students’ general attitudes Thirdly, the data from the interviews revealed the teachers’ viewpoints towards code-switching and situations to use it After that the research compared it with the data obtained from the classroom observation and find out whether there is any differences between students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Data analysis

3.1.1 Classroom observation analysis

3.1.1.1 The frequency of code-switching use

Figure 3.1: The amount of code-switching use in observed classes

The figure indicates the percentage of teachers’ code-switching use in six EFL classrooms After observation, the researcher transcribed the recording and estimate the length of teacher talk in English and in Vietnamese It can be seen from the above chart that the amount of English use in 11C1 is the highest and the proportion of code-switching use did not vary much among five other classes

As can be seen from the chart 1, it is clear that class 11C1 used the least amount of code-switching use with 84.4 percent of six observed English lessons and the total length of teacher talk in English was about 7 minutes This class is considered the gifted one in Le Lai high school because of many intelligent students and the best English level of all That was reason why teacher can speak

English as much as he can to improve communicative skills and did not have to use too much code-switching to explain or translate all new structures, questions, answers into mother tongue during writing lesson

Another observed class of grade 11 was 11C5 which considered English one of the most difficult subjects This class had the same percentage of code-switching use as a gifted class of grade 10 - 10B1 with 6.6 percent English (about 3 minutes ) and 93.4 percent code-switching use The students of 11C5 were not intelligent and good at any subject so that is the reason why the teacher had to codeswitch too much in reading lesson to help them understand new words and the text Most teachers tried to speak English as much as they can in English class but in the reading lesson of 10B1 class the teacher taught

in Vietnamese the most, though her students could have understood if she had spoken more English

The English level of 10B2 class was not as good as 11C1 and 10B1 but the amount of code-switching was just higher than only 11C1 with 90 percentage in observed listening lesson Many students were interested in learning English so teacher tried to teach in English and avoid using Vietnamese if it was unnecessary situation to motivate them and improve their communicative skills

Class 10B4 had the same English level as 11C5 but in observed lesson they used less code-switching with 91.2 percentage Because the lesson was speaking and the content of the lesson was not complex so teacher could speak English in total length 4 minutes to read and give samples to help students practise well She got used to using English to teach much and then translate into Vietnamese like other teacher, she explained in mother tongue

in her class instead

The last class was 12A3, the students of this class was good at social

subjects such as literature, history and geography but English was not their favourite one In EFL lesson, English was spoken averagely in about 3 minutes to teach, read new words, check the answers or some simple sentences She also use quite high amount of code-switching with 93 percentage because of her habit and the students’ low level

To sum up, in all three grades, the frequency of code-switching in six classes was very high which was 91 percent in average, only 11C1 had the lowest amount, there was not remarkably different among five ones It could

be concluded from the chart 1 that the proportion of code-switching was quite equal in rural high schools except one or two better classes

3.1.1.2 Situation of teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms

Table 3.1: Situations of teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms

giving humour examples or real short story in Vietnamese Although they used English to ask questions and also encouraged students to answer the questions in English, the teachers had to code-switch to translate questions and suggest for some complex answers To check students’ reading comprehension, the teachers sometimes asked some students especially the weak to answer their questions and better students to summarize the content

of the reading passage in Vietnamese and then assigned homework for their students Because those were EFL lessons, the teachers tried to use English in greeting, maintaining the classroom discipline, giving compliments, calling for students After the lessons, the researcher found that code-switching is very important factor to help rural students with very low English level understand the lessons and have more interest in this language

During the speaking lesson, the teacher tried to used English as much

as impossible such as greeting, asking questions, confirming answers, correcting mistakes, managing class, giving compliments She also encouraged her students to practise more in English, repeat difficult or new words many times She only used code-switching to warm-up, give instruction for each task because there were many students had low English levels and translate some of sentences in samples Besides, the teacher sometimes code-switch to give the suggestions, encouragement for the weak and the shy After the lesson, the researcher found her students could practise speaking English well when she codeswitched in necessary situations

In the listening lesson, to help students easily understand and complete the tasks, the teacher used code-switching to explain some new words and complex grammar structures She also translated difficult questions and answers, give instructions about the setting of the listening, and tell students how to listening and completing the listening tasks in Vietnamese

Listening is the only lesson that students were emerged into English much because of English recordings and the teacher needs to use enough code-switching to make this difficult skill more interesting

During the writing lesson, using code-switching to give instructions for writing was necessary Besides, Vietnamese was also used to explain new words and grammar structures This class learned English better than others

so the teacher mainly spoke English in many all activities such as greeting, warm-up, joking, managing the class, giving compliments, correcting mistakes, checking students’ understanding, calling for volunteer, confirming answers Although he tried to use English as much as possible, he codeswitched to assess students’ writing to help them recognize their strong points and weak points Writing is often lesson which needs using code-switching frequently but in the researcher’s observation, the writing lesson of 11C1 class had the lowest amount of code-switching because of students’ equal English level and the teachers’ teaching habit

In summary, it can be seen from the classroom observations and the checklists that code-switching was used in all observed classes Teachers took the help of code-switching in some common situations: explaining the meanings of new words, explaining complex grammar structures, giving instructions, managing the class and assigning homework with the aim to help students understand the lesson more effectively However, the frequency and situations in which teachers used code-switching are different because it depends on many factors such as the aims of the lesson, the level of students, the duration of the lesson and the habit of the teachers

3.1.2 Analysis of teachers’ interviews results

The teachers’ interviews aimed to find out the general attitudes of teachers towards code-switching in EFL classrooms and then compare them