Code-Switching in Pakistani Classrooms

Research conducted by Touheeda Ashraf

Roll No.BX509538
Registration No.16-PDN-02640
Semester Spring, 2019
Diploma TEFL
Under Supervision of Prof. Mumtaz Ahmed

ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN

UNIVERSITY, D. G. KHAN CAMPUS

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 Acknowledgement

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my superviser, Professor

Mumtaz Ahmed for his guidance throughout the study.

Table of Contents

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 Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Methodology / Procedures

Observation of code switching

Interview

Conclusion

References

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 Code-Switching in Pakistani Classrooms

ABSTRACT:

The research is an attempt to explore students and teachers’ attitude toward

code-switching within English classrooms in Pakistan. In a country like

Pakistan where official language is English and the national language is Urdu

and every province has its own language, most of the people are bilingual or

multilingual. Therefore the aim of study was to find out when and why teachers

code-switch in L2 English classrooms. It also looked into teachers’ code-

switching patterns and the students’ priorities. A language class at Metric level

selected and the interaction between the teacher and students is recorded to

investigate how code-switching is practiced in Pakistani classroom. The results

of teacher’s responses indicated that they mostly code switch when student’s

response in relation to the comprehensibility is negative and they do not grasp

the concepts easily in L2. They never encourage students to speak Urdu.

Student’s result shows that they mostly preferred code-switching into their L1

for better understanding and participating in class. Analysis revealed that

students only favoured English while getting instructions of test, receiving

results, and learning grammatical concepts. Students shows flexibility in

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language usage. Students agreed upon that they learn better when their teacher

code switch in L1.

INTRODUCTION.

Code-switching , process of shifting from one linguistic code to another,

depending on the social context or conversational settings. It is a way of

speaking when speakers knows more than one language. Code-switching is the

ability to communicate in two languages. The present study focuses on the

attitudes of English teachers and students toward code-switching as it is

frequently used in the English classrooms of Pakistan. It helps the teachers to

convey their point of view in an appropriate way because some concepts are so

ambiguous that it becomes difficult for them to pass on the students without

switching into L1.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How code-switching is being practiced in Pakistani Classrooms?

2. How code-switching helps in teaching learning environment?

Aim of the Study

Aim of the study is to investigate significance of code-switching and

bilingualism in Pakistani classrooms.

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Significance of the Study

Dera Ghazi Khan being multilingual society, Saraiki, Balochi, Punjabi, Urdu

and their dialects are used. Research indicates that if target language is Urdu or

English, bilingualism plays vital role at initial level of classes. It is useable in

classes and better results are attained for learning of target language.

Literature Review

Farhan uddin Raja, states in his research paper ‘Bilingual Education System at

Primary Schools of Pakistan’ that Pakistan is multilingual society. Urdu is

national language and many other regional languages are spoken in their

dominance areas. In the elite schools, the entire education is provided to the

pupils in English, whereas in the government schools, Urdu is used. In a

multilingual country like Pakistan, pupils come from different communities and

ethnicities for whom neither English is their first language nor is Urdu. They

receive their primary and secondary education in languages that are second or

third languages to them. Consequently, they face problems in comprehending

conceptual ideas and the process of their cognitive development slows down.

Bilingualism comes to help in this setup.

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 METHODOLOGY / PROCEDURES:
Research was conducted by classroom observation and interview techniques.
For that purpose permission was sought from THE STANDARD EDUCATION
SCHOOL, NEW MODEL TOWN. Principal allowed Class-10 for observation.
Table 1 shows observation focused areas. For each focused area of language 2
observations of same class were conducted in various days.

Table 1. OBSERVATION SHEET

Languages Activity Type Material Used
Focused Area &
Skills
Management
1.Classroom Teacher’s movement, Minimal and
Procedures Instructions for carrying out normal procedures of Extended oral
classroom (e.g open your English book at Page 10 instructions.
(Authentic tasks which stimulates real life
communication)

2.Disciplinary Students’ movement (e.g. sit down.) Minimal and

Routines (Authentic tasks which stimulates real life Extended oral
communication) instructions
Focus on
Language Drills Whiteboard,
1. Grammar Translations marker, duster
2. Vocabulary Reading aloud Textbook,
3. whiteboard
Pronunciatio Textbook, Oral
n instructions

Reading Skill Reading aloud textbook

Writing Skill Dictation Notebook
Speaking Skill
Listening Skill No listening activity found No audio
material used in
class
SOURCE. Allen, Patrick, The communicative Orientation of Language
Teaching: An Observation Scheme.(1983)

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Observation of Code-Switching

Instructions For class control instructions were used in English such as “sit

down, you tell me, what’s the meaning of ‘inkpot’ in Urdu, May I go to drink

water please?, May I come in teacher?” A new admission was there and teacher

was also translating these instructions into Urdu so that new student could

understand instructions such as ‫ریں۔‬FF‫ نہ ک‬F‫ور‬FF‫اوں۔ش‬FF‫در آج‬FF‫ا میں ان‬FF‫اءیں۔ کی‬FF‫بیٹھ ج‬which

helped student to understand what teacher said.

Vocabulary task was also carried out by telling students synonyms in Urdu.

Usage of the words in English was simple and according to Urdu speech

patterns. Instead of going into details of definition in simple English, teacher

translated words in Urdu such as ‘flower’ ‫پھول‬

Grammar was taught with the help of Urdu. Teacher introduced the determiner

(here as a subject) “this” by telling students meaning ‫ یہ‬. Teacher was also

pointing out things in class ‘this is chair’‫ یہ کرسی ہے‬Prepositions were taught in

the same way ‘book is on the table’ ‫کتاب میز پر ہے‬ . Teacher explained noun

words as naming words for place, person or thing. And very next moment she

did code switching to Urdu ‫ شخص یا جگہ کے نام کو کہتے ہیں۔‬،‫اسم کسی چیز‬

‫جیسے یہ کیا ہے؟ کتاب ہے تو چیز کا نام ہوا۔‬

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Reading and Pronunciation: Model reading was given to students first. Then

students had repetition after teacher. Five students came to stage to read the

passage aloud. Students were encouraged by the teacher and mistakes were

responded timely. Students had problem with spellings.

Writing Task: While writing class work, students had problems of alphabets

with four-line notebook. Teacher interrupted and told students ‘small a ‫بیچ والی‬

‫ دو الین پہ آتا ہے۔‬. Dictation for difficult words was also done in the class.

Communication of students in class Single student named Asima used English

for communication purpose. As Asima in the class said to her classmate who

was on her way, ‘please take a side.’ This was the only example of

communication within students.

Communication of students with teacher Students communicated in English

with teacher for the purpose of going out. ‘May I visit my sister in class five?’

Found no communication in English for Academic Purpose. For academic

purpose Urdu was used by students. ‫ٹیچر ناون کے سپیلنگ کیا ہیں۔؟‬

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Frequency Table

Lexical Level Sentential Level

At lexical level teacher 20-50 Teacher speak many 20-40 At

switch words sentences in English and in sentential

code to numbers of words teacher Urdu. For better level

translating them in Urdu code understanding of students teacher

for better switch teacher translated sentences translated

understanding of different while in urdu and explained them every

concepts. Teacher also use teachin to facilitate the students. difficult

some g sentence

English words in her to clear

communication with the the

students instructing concepts

different tasks. of

students.

English Teacher Interview

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For more authentic view of topic, interview was held with Mr. Muhammad

Faisal, Principal at KIPS campus at D. G. Khan. He has done M.A English,

Diploma in TEFL. He was asked ‘How do you see code-switching in Pakistan.

He opened the conversation by saying that our system of exams restricts us to

reading and writing. No presentations are held in exams to assess student’s

communication skills pertaining to English. That is why we don’t focus on

listening and speaking skills of students. Because of this tendency after passing

12-years of Education with English as a compulsory subject students are unable

to communicate in real life.

Furthermore he told, Pakistan is bilingual country because there are many

regional language and students and teachers come with different backgrounds.

But in educational set up Urdu is mostly used in classes being the national

language of the country. Being English Teacher, I would restrict myself to

English and Urdu languages. In Pakistan code-switching is playing vital role in

classes. It saves our time. Difficult and abstract nouns could be explained in

Urdu. It takes so much time to interpret these terms such as sorrow. Code-

switching also preserves our culture and prestige doesn’t shift to English. If

resources are not available in our classes( as it is requirement of Direct

Method,) teachers can run their classes smoothly and there is no over burden on

teachers to be efficient in lesson planning and other professional skills. Average

teacher can produce good results in classes. He further said that more and more

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researches are coming that code-switching have better effects on psychology of

learners.

At the end he had a look on some drawbacks of code-switching by saying ‘On

the other hand bilingualism also affects both languages at the same time. Speech

patterns of a language can disturb other language. We become better writer but

our communication in English language drops to almost zero level’

Findings

The findings of the study revealed several reasons of code switching. The first

reason shared was need for code-switching. Teacher switch code to cater the

needs of students. Pakistani English teachers switch code for the ease of

communication so that their students would have no difficulty in interacting

with them. Teacher switch code for the clarification of difficult terms and

concepts so that students can understand better. The finding of the present study

revealed many reasons for teachers switching code in English language

classrooms in Pakistan. The teacher switch to mother tongue to emphasize

certain points so the students can understand better.

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CONCLUSION

The purpose of the study was to investigate how code switching is practiced in

Pakistani classroom. For this investigation it is concluded that code-switching is

an inevitable phenomenon of bilingual or multilingual classrooms in Pakistan

and it can be used as an effective teaching strategy in language classrooms.

There are multiple reasons for switching code in language classroom. Teachers

switch code to serve academic and social purposes. They employ code-

switching as a teaching strategy or tool to make students comprehend difficult

items, to give examples from L1 due to the absence of terminology in L2 or to

make idea clear in the minds of learners, to emphasize certain points and to give

instructions.

REFERENCES

 Farhan uddin Raja, Bilingual Education System at Primary Schools of

Pakistan

 Khalid Hussain Channa, Dr.Shumaila Memon, Dr.Rafique Ahmed

Memon, MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION AND BILINGUAL

EDUCATION (June, 2006)

 Allen, Patrick, The communicative Orientation of Language Teaching:

An Observation Scheme.(1983)
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