“The use of CS has been widely discussed in the academic community of Vietnam. From various research, it can be seen that CS has been considered as an essential tool to teach English. It is a phenomenon in a variety of teaching
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context, from primary schools to language institutions of higher education. These studies significantly contribute to deeper understanding of CS in general.”
“Nguyen & Yang (2010) conducted a study to re-examine the practice of English-only policy in terms of pedagogical efficacy and students' desirability.
70% of the first year English-major students in their research stated that they did not fully comprehend the lessons due to the English-only policy. In terms of student views, despite the fact that a large majority (92%) of the sampled students recognized the importance of frequent use of English in promoting learning, approximately 55% were reported to be unfavorable toward the English-only policy. The most noticeable finding was that around 70% of respondents supported the use of L1 as a supplement to traditional teaching and learning methods. (p.5). Based on students’ attitude towards the English-only policy, the researchers recommended that the teacher's responsibility is to be fully aware of their own current learning and teaching circumstances, taking into account all relevant elements to ensure that their language choice enables the most effective learning process. Specific relevant situations for L1 use should be identified to allow for straightforward and practical evaluation (p.10).”
In the context of Vietnamese’s universities, Nguyen (2012) conducted a case study to respond to the key question “What is the impact of the tertiary education context on code-switching in classrooms in Vietnam?” “The study did research on one teacher and observe her use of CS in her two classes (one is at a private university, while the other is at a public university). The author found that CS happened more frequently in the public school than in the private one because of five factors: (1) the teaching time in class, (2) students' proficiency levels, (3) cultural aspects, (4) the teaching quality evaluation scheme, and (5) teacher’s cognition (Nguyen, 2012, p.21). It seems, then, that although his study builds on and contributes to work in the practice of code-switching in local context, it does not have high possibility of generalization due to the single case in the sample and small number of participants.”
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“The research of Grant & Nguyen (2017) was also conducted in the university context and share the same findings in term of the reasons why teachers implement CS in their EFL classrooms. These reasons are related to teachers’” “pedagogical concerns” (including clarifying instructions and scaffolding, quickly covering course subject, encouraging or emphasizing students) and “affective concerns” “(to react to the feelings of the teacher or the students, to share one's individuality and develop rapport, to punish or control the class, to respond habitually). The author also revealed that code-switching can be a beneficial strategy in the EFL classroom only when done intentionally and selectively, not done automatically and habitually. Because code-switching occurs naturally among bilingual speakers, teacher training programs might need to include it as a purposeful teaching strategy. Furthermore, before any government policy or instructions on code-switching are implemented, instructors must receive specific training on how to apply it effectively.”
“Although also conducted in the university context, the study of Nguyen (2018) was carried out in the longer time instead of only one or a couple of sessions like most of the previous mentioned studies. His study focused on the students’ and teachers’ attitude towards the implementation of teachers’ CS in their classrooms. There was a parallel in teachers’ thoughts and their real practice in the way that they all acknowledged the necessary of CS in particular situations. However, the findings also show that teachers' perceptions of their own CS are not always consistent with what they really do in class. Two out of three of the sampled teachers had tendency to use more CS than they believed.
Only one of the three teachers in this case study saw a consistent frequency throughout all three stages of the course, whereas the other two's number of switches varied dramatically over time. This study significantly contributes to deeper understanding of teachers’ attitude towards CS and the degree of inconsistency in their thoughts and real practice. Meanwhile, the reasons behind this inconsistency have not been fully exploited.”
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“In the context of young learner classroom in language centers, Huynh (2018) conducted a study with the purpose of investigating teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching as a medium of instruction. The research includes an examination of quantitative and qualitative data obtained from thirty participants who teach six to eleven-year-olds at a private English center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, using questionnaires as the data collection method. The findings suggest that teachers have a flexible attitude toward CS and recognize its value in the classroom. They also used code-switching in some specific settings, such as presenting difficult topics, maintaining classroom discipline, and creating rapport with students, due to both pedagogical and affective motivations. Another finding concerns the teachers' perceptions of how effective code-switching is.
They felt that instead of being done unconsciously by habit, CS should be selective and purposeful of its most advantageous to young learners.”
“It can be seen from the above studies conducted in EFL classrooms of Vietnam that for teachers in EFL classroom, CS has shown to be a valuable resource. Most studies of the literature investigated the use of CS in general and not in teaching specific skills. These studies also give more focus on students at lower proficiency level than for students who want to go beyond that level of competence. From the results found in the above research which are conducted in Vietnamese context, according to the participant teachers, CS proves to be beneficial for students at lower level of proficiency up until the intermediate level. In addition, the second similarity among these studies is the teachers’
perception that CS should be applied selectively and purposefully rather than being done unconsciously and habitually.”