CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Code switching is determined by a number of social linguistic factors. It is

a widely used in multilingual and multicultural communities (Bista, 2010).

According to Jamshidi & Navehebraim (2013), code switching is a phenomenon

that exists in bilingual societies where people have the opportunity to use two or

more languages to communicate. Being able to speak more than one language,

bilinguals can code switching and use their languages as resources to find better

ways to convey meaning. Code-switching can also define as “the alternation of

two languages within a single discourse, sentence, or constituent”. Alternation

between languages in the form of code switching is a widely observed

phenomenon in foreign language classrooms. Various bilingual speakers switch

their language with ease at different points in conversation on in writing (Bista,

2010). People commonly shift code in the course of daily conversation.

There are several functions of code switching such as filling linguistic

gaps, expressing ethnic identity and achieving particular discursive aim (Bullock

& Toribio 2009). These different functions can be divided into two dominant

approaches; the sociolinguistic approach and the grammatical approach (Auer

1998; Harmes & Blanc 2000). The sociolinguistic approach to code switching
focuses on variables such as “the topic of conversation, the participants, the

setting, the effective aspect of the message’’ (Hamers & Blanc 2000). Hence,

factors regarding differences in linguistic behaviors between e.g. individual

conversations, social classes and ethnic groups are relevant to our

understanding of code-switching (Gardner-Chloros 2009). Moreover, to

understand code switching, it is important to understand language and the role

that it plays in society today. Language is something that connects people to their

group of friends, and their communities. There are many parts of language, these

parts can be used to identify a person, who they are, and where they are from

such as the pronunciation of speech and the component of the dialect, slang

(Shuter, 2013). However, both speaking and writing are becoming more

important in 21th century. But in fact, many students get anxious when they are

faced on speaking. They confess that actually, they have gotten the ideas in their

mind, but they feel difficult to express it orally. It is caused whether by being

nervous, confused because of less vocabulary, shy, or other factors. Most of

them always get anxious when they are asked by teacher to speak in front of the

class. Even if they have to choose between writing and speaking, they prefer to

choose writing. In their opinion, in writing test they probably can answer the

question by guessing even though their own answer is false, the examiner will

not judge them directly. It makes them feel save more. But in speaking, they will

be directly faced by the examiner or audience. It makes them nervous more as if

what they will speak is false whether from the language structure, ideas, or other.

Thus, students nowadays prefer to use their primary language in expressing their
thoughts instead of using second language (English) to avoid judgement in the

society. According to Greggio & Gil (2007) have argued that code switching can

be a useful tool in assisting English language teaching and learning process.

Moreover, the study found that code switching helped learners to enjoy their

learning due to their ability to comprehend the teacher’s input. The

comprehensible input also allowed them to feel less stressful and to become

more comfortable to learn. Once they are comfortable with the environment,

without any unnecessary anxiety (Lai, 1996; Schweers, 1999; Chi, 2000; Burden

2001).

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the Code Switching and the English

Proficiency of SHS student.

Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the mean of code switching of SHS students?

2. What is the mean of English proficiency of SHS students?

3. Is there a significance relationship between Code switching and English

proficiency of SHS student?

Significance of the Study

The study on Code Switching and the English Proficiency of SHS students

offers benefits to the following:

 Students. The results of this research will help the students to gain

insights about the use of Code switching. With such insights, they can use their

language as resources of better information.

Teacher. The outcome of this research will inform the teachers to use

code switching in order to have understanding and greater connection for the

learner’s

Future researcher: With the information of this study the future

researchers can use this as a reference for their study.

Parents. With the help of this data the parents will have an awareness of

why his/her child to talk in other way or twisting of languages.

Scope and Delimitation

This study was conducted among 30 SHS students of Alangalang National

High School on the second semester of this school year 2019-2020. The

respondents were randomly selected from the chosen locale. The study used

correlational research design. Adopted questionnaire served as the research

instrument and was personally administered by the researchers to the

respondents of the study.

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW RELATED LITERATURE

Code Switching

In the last fifteen years, a large number of studies have appeared in which

specific cases of intra-sentential code-switching were analyzed from a

grammatical perspective, involving a variety of language pairs, social settings

and speaker types.

According to Skiba (1997), It was found that code-switching is a quite

normal and widespread form of bilingual interaction, requiring a great deal of

bilingual competence.

In individual cases, intra-sentential code-switching is not distributed

randomly in the sentence, but rather it occurs at specific points. Where much less

agreement was reached is with respect to general properties of the process.

Various ‘constraints’ and ‘models’ regulating intra-sentential code switching the

type most interesting from the grammatical perspective have been

proposed and tested, with the result that some cases appear to fall under one

constraint, and others under another. This is by itself unsatisfactory. We do not

know in any systematic way how different the models proposed are, neither

intrinsically nor in their predictions. It should be mentioned at this point that many

of the studies do not make the constraints or models very explicit, limiting

grammatical notions relevant to code-switching and English proficiency. These

notions can then be used both to characterize specific instances of intra-

sentential switching and to relate the various proposals in the literature to each

other.

Code switching is the mixing of words, phrases and sentences from two

distinct grammatical systems across sentences boundaries within the same

speech event (Bokamba 1989). Today code switching has become very popular.

It is an integral part of society, because it pertains to so many different people in

society (Shuter 2013). According to the study of Pollard (2002), as an

increasing number of Spanis-speaking students enter the school systems

throughout the United States, districts are faced with meeting their academic

needs. These students enter their classrooms with varying levels of mastery of

the English language. While some of these students begin school with English

fluency or competency in both English and their native language (Spanish),

others are monolingual Spanish-speaker or have mastered just minimal

vocabulary in English language. Moreover, the student switched fluidly between

Spanish and English without hesitation (Skiba, Hammink). Code switching is

often viewed negatively “it is often considered a low prestige form, incorrect, poor

language, or a result of incomplete mastery of two languages” according to the

comments of Julianne E. Hammink.

According to Greggio & Gil (2007) have argued that code switching can be

a useful tool in assisting English language teaching and learning process.

Moreover, the study found that code switching helped learners to enjoy their

learning due to their ability to comprehend the teacher’s input. The

comprehensible input also allowed them to feel less stressful and to become
more comfortable to learn. Once they are comfortable with the environment,

without any unnecessary anxiety (Lai, 1996; Schweers, 1999; Chi, 2000; Burden

2001). According to Gulzar (2010), teachers do code switching while teaching

English in the classroom and reason for this language alternation may be that

English is thought as a main/compulsory subject and is used as a medium of

instruction at school.

English Proficiency

The need to be Proficient in the use of English among non-native speaker

has become a global phenomenon. Today, educators are faced with the

challenge of address number of students whose primary language is not English

(Gibbons, 2003 as cited by Vizconde 2006) while mastering other skills and

content in other subject areas, there is the necessity for the learners to gain

proficiency in English (Vizconde, 2006). The needs of the growing Learning

success reflect the learners’ ability to use English effectively as result of learners’

understanding of teachers’ input generated to learners’ successful completion of

tasks or activities designed by teachers.

According to Racca (2016), Educators agree that proficiency in the

English language is the basis for success in academic pursuits. Reading, writing,

and working with numbers are tasks that are based on language skill, describes

this as an interplay between everyday language skill and more advanced

communication skill.
 Indeed, language proficiency is a key to academic performance. A person

who does not know English, for instance, may not have access to the world’s

known scientific and technological discoveries that are predominantly written in

English. This means that students need to be proficient in English for a better

grasp of knowledge of technology, science and mathematics (Lasaten, 2016).

When students’ Proficiency in English language is high, it will definitely

affect and improve the academic performance of such students. Nevertheless,

where the proficiency in English is lacking in any academic setting, it will

definitely lower the academic performance such as students (Aina, 2013)

Code Switching and English Proficiency

The used of code-switching is also dependent on the type learners

involved in the learnings. The study has explored low English proficient learners

and the results indicated that this learner approved the teacher’ code-switching.

This corroborates the findings of Lai (1996), Critchley (1999), Schweers (1999),

Dash (2002), and Greggio and Gil (2007) that code-switching might be a helpful

strategy to use in low proficient classrooms as well as the intermediate level

classrooms (Critchley, 1998; Tang, 2002; Januleviciene & Kavaliauskiene, 2002).

 Conceptual Framework

The conceptual flow of the study was design guided by the various

literature reviewed and cited. Figure 1 show the hypothesized relationship

between the variables of the study.

Code Switching English

Proficiency

Figure 1. Diagram showing the conceptual flow of the study

Hypothesis

The following hypothesis was tested in this study:

There is significant relationship in Code Switching and English

Proficiency of SHS students.

Definition of Terms

The following terms used in the study are defined operationally.

Code Switching. It refers to the practice of alternative between two or more

language in conversation.
English proficiency. It refers to the ability of students to communicate

efficiently.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter discussed the methodology that was used to determine the

relationship between code switching and English Proficiency. This chapter

includes the research design, research respondents, research local, research

instrument, data collection procedure, data interpretation and data analysis.

Research Design

The study is a correlational survey. According to Creswell (2012),

correlational survey is used by investigator, to describe and measure the degree

of relationship between two or more variables. Thus, the design was used to

determine the relationship between the code switching and English proficiency

among SHS students of Alangalang National High School.

Research Respondents

This study involved 80 sample of Senior High School students of

Alangalang National High School. According to Creswell (2012) and Gay Mills

and Airasian (2012), correlational study should have at least 30 respondents,

However, Frankel and Wallen (2009) suggested that 50 respondents are needed

to establish relationship between two variables in a correlational study.

The 80 respondents were chosen using the simple random sampling

specifically, using Microsoft Excel. This technique was chosen to give population

an equal-chances to part of the study.

Research Locale

This study took place in a rural public high school at Alangalang, Leyte.

Alangalang National High School is located along Real Street Brgy. San Antonio

Alangalang, Leyte. The school is one of the largest public high schools in Leyte

Division in terms of student population offering in junior and senior high school

programs. Its senior high school department is one of the largest senior high

school in Leyte Division offering in two academic strands namely Science,

Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and Humanities and Social

Sciences (HUMSS).

Research Instrument

The study will be using standardized adopted questionnaire which one

method of data collection questionnaire to enable the researcher to come up with

the intended information in this study. The researchers used an email to the

author to ask permission for the for the use of the adopted questionnaire. This

questionnaire will be Pilot Tested in order to assure the validity and reliability of

the data that will be provided. The questionnaire consists of 4 Point Likert Scale

Maguddayao (2018). The questionnaire consists of 2 parts, Part I has a 4 Point

Likert-Type Scale to measure the means of Code Switching among SHS

students.

Part II has a Multiple-choice questionnaire Plocios (2020) to measure the means

of English proficiency.
Figure 1. Locator map of Alangalang National High School.
Data Collection Procedure

Before conducting the study, a letter from school principal asking

permission was secured, upon the approval the researcher randomly selected

the respondents. The rational at the study was explained to the respondents.

Brief instruction about the questionnaire was discussed before the actual survey.

Participants have as much time needed for them to complete the survey.

Data Interpretation

Code Switching. Code Switching of SHS students was analyzed using

following Score Range and Description Adapted from National Association of

school Psychologists (1998):

Score Range Description

1.00-1.75 Severely below average

1.76-2.51 Moderately below average

2.52-3.27 Mildly below average

3.28-4.00 Average

English Proficiency. English proficiency of SHS students was analyzed using

following score range and frequency adapted from Quartile Scale adopted from

PI Predictive Cognitive Assessment (2018):

 Mean Range Description

1.00-7.50 Low Score Candidates

7.51-15.00 Below Average Candidates

15.01-22.50 Above Average Candidates

22.51-30.00 High Score Candidates

Data Analysis

Data Statistical tools to be used in the study were summarized in table 1.

Matrix of Statistical tool

Research Question Statistical Tool

1. What is the mean on the code 1. Mean and Standard Deviation

switching of SHS students?

2. What is the mean on the English 2. Mean and Standard Deviation

Proficiency of SHS students?

3.Is there a significance relationship 3. Pearson’s Correlation

between code switching and English

Proficiency of SHS students?

 CHAPTER IV

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the analysis of data followed by a discussion of the

research findings. The data gathered are tabulated or presented in figures after

they are analyzed using Microsoft Excel. This chapter aims to find the answers

that was stated in the state of the problem.

Code Switching

Table 1 shows that the respondents have moderately below average

code-switching capability (M=2.20, SD=.573).

Table 1

Code switching score of Respondents

Mean Standard Deviation Interpretation

2.20 .570 Moderately below average

Note: The interpretation of code switching was taken from Maguddayao (2018)

Furthermore, table 2 reveals that there is13% severely below average

respondents among the total population. 54.5% of moderately below average. It

is followed by 29.9% mildly below average respondents. Lastly is 1.3% average

among respondents of SHS students.

Table 2

Category N Percentage

Severely below average 10 13

Moderately below average 42 54.5

Mildly below average 23 29.9

Average 1 1.3

Total 76 100%

English Proficiency

Table 3 reveals that the respondents from Alangalang National High

School have below average score in English Proficiency (M=14.95, SD=3.829).

Table 3

English Proficiency score of Respondents

Mean Standard Deviation Interpretation

14.95 3.829 Below Average Candidates

Note: Interpretation of the mean taken from Kunasaraphan (2015)

 Furthermore, table 4 reveals that there is0% low score candidate

respondents among the total population. 59.7% of below average candidates. It

is followed by 36.4% of above average candidate respondents. Lastly 2.6% high

school candidates among respondents of SHS students.

Table 4

Category N Percentage

Low Score Candidates 0 0

Below Average Candidates 46 59.7

Above Average Candidates 28 36.4

High Score Candidates 2 2.6

Total 76 100%

Code switching and English proficiency

The result of correlation analysis reveals that there is a highly significant,

negatively weak correlation between code switching and English proficiency of

Senior High School students, r(63)= .388 p= -.100. Hence, the hypothesis stating

that there is a significant relationship between Code switching and English

proficiency is not rejected. This implies that the higher usage of code switching

the less its proficiency of English subject.

Table 5

Correlation between code switching and English proficiency

r-value Interpretation p-value Interpretation

.388 weak -.100 highly significant

Note: Correlation coefficient Interpretation taken from Best & khan (1989), p-

value interpretation taken from Mendenhall et al (2013)

 CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION

This chapter examines and discussed the result obtained during the study.

Also, conclusions about the result shall be placed together with a

recommendation.

Summary

This study determined the relationship between Code Switching and

English Proficiency of Senior High School Students in Alangalang National High

School.

Specifically, this answers the following questions:

1.What is the mean of Code Switching of Senior High School students?

2.What is the mean of English proficiency of Senior High School students?

3.Is there a significance relationship between Code switching and English

proficiency of Senior High School students?

In gathering data for this study an adopted questionnaire was used. Mean

and standard deviation was used to analyze the data that was gathered. The

research hypothesis was tested using Pearson Correlation at 0.05.

Findings

Code switching. The mean of code switching of students were

moderately below average with the M=2.20 and SD=.573.

English proficiency. The mean of English proficiency of students below

average with the mean M=14.95 and SD=3.829

Relationship between the code switching and English proficiency of

Senior High School students. The correlation between the code switching and

English proficiency of the SHS students was significant r(63)=.388, p=-.100.

Conclusions

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are made:

1. The mean of code switching among Senior High School students of

Alangalang National High School is moderately below average.

2. The mean of English proficiency among Senior High School students

of Alangalang National High School below average candidates.

 3.There is a significant negatively weak correlation between code

switching and English proficiency of Senior High School students.

Recommendations

Based on the result that were gathered, the researchers recommend the

following:

1. Teachers should delimit their use of code switching so that it will not

affect to the English proficiency of the students.

2. The students should boost their self-esteem to have self-confidence in

dealing English Language.

3. Maintain the English Policy inside the room during Academic English

subject.

4. Parent should train their child in English so that when they entering in

school, they already have their knowledge.

5. Conduct similar study in the other locales.

Code switching and English proficiency among Senior High School

students of Alangalang National High School

Leandro Apurillo

Cesar Bacale

Joven Brun

John Christian Tañola

Students Researcher

Mr. James R. Pedrera

Research adviser