Agustina Acosta

Evolution of the English language

Assignment: Expository Essay
Centro Regional de Profesores del Este
Inglés- Language
Prof: Mauricio de Vasconcellos

It goes without saying that the ability to communicate our thoughts, emotions, and
opinions to others is a really important ability for human beings. What is more, the
use of language can influence our identity as cultural influences are also reflected in
our language. Moreover, language has a social feature, which means that it is used
by the members of society.
There are bilingual communities that use certain phenomena in order to make
communication more meaningful. One of these phenomena is "code switching"
which we can observe mostly in second language classrooms. Furthermore, Code
switching can be defined as the use of more than one language, variety, or style by a
speaker within an utterance or discourse, or between different interlocutors or
situations. There are many interesting aspects about code switching but some of the
most relevant ones are the reason why people use it, the different types of it and the
possible interruption it might represent in class.
To start with, the first reason why speakers use it is because of the notion that a
speaker who may not be able to express him/herself in one language switches to the
other to compensate for the deficiency. As a result, the speaker may be triggered
into speaking in the other language for a while. This type of code switching tends to
occur when the speaker is tired or distracted in some manner.
Secondly, switching commonly occurs when an individual wish to express solidarity
with a particular social group, comprehension is established between the speaker
and the listener when the listener responds with a similar switch. Apart from that, this
type of switching may also be used to exclude others from a conversation who do
not speak the second language.

Otherwise, code Switching can be considered as a language interference in the

classroom as students may see code switching as an acceptable form of
communication in society, and may feel comfortable switching languages in
everyday normal conversation. However, this would put those who are not bilingual
at a disadvantage, because they would not be able to communicate effectively.
Therefore, code switching can be both beneficial and a possible language
interference, depending on the situation and the context in which it occurs

On the other hand, there are three types in which code switching can be classified.
The first one is inter-sentential which consist on the language switch is done at
sentence boundaries. This is seen most often between fluent bilingual speakers.
Then, intra-sentential where the shift is done in the middle of a sentence, with no
interruptions, hesitations or pauses indicating a shift. The speaker is usually unaware
of the shift. Different types of switch occur within the clause level including within the
word level. And the last one, extra-sentential where there is an insertion of a tag from
one language into an utterance that is in another language.
On balance, taking all these aspects into consideration we should came up with the
idea that code switching is a way in which people who are able to speak more than
one langue could communicate with others. In addition, there are some particular
reason why these happens and there are also three different types. On the other
hand, it could be seen by teachers of foreign language as an interference for
language in the classroom.