What next? Towards an agenda for classroom codeswitching research

• Published in: International journal of bilingual education and bilingualism Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 231 - 241
• Main Author: Ferguson, Gibson
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01.03.2009; Routledge
• Subjects: Africa; Bilingual Education; Classroom Communication; Code Switching; Code Switching (Language); Educational Policy; English (Second Language); Foreign Countries; Language Attitudes; Language of Instruction; Learning Strategies; Negative Attitudes; Research Design; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Second Languages; Taiwan; United Kingdom; United Kingdom; Africa; Taiwan
• ISSN: 1367-0050; 1747-7522
• DOI: 10.1080/13670050802153236

In this issue, aside from the introduction, there are six papers on classroom code-switching (CS), covering a wide spectrum of geographic and pedagogic contexts: two from Africa focussing on switching in content subject lessons; two from Taiwan looking at CS in EFL language subject classrooms; and two further papers, one looking at written CS and another exploring CS in UK complementary schools. Diverse though the settings covered may be, they are unified by a shared focus on the pedagogic functions of classroom CS and by a common interest in attitudes to CS, particularly on the part of educational authorities and teachers. This author makes two methodological points on the topic of functions: (1) how functions of classroom CS come to be individuated and identified; and (2) the treatment of CS as a linguistically relatively undifferentiated phenomenon. This article ends with a summary list of suggestions for further classroom-related CS research. (Contains 2 notes.)