An investigation of code switching into EFL young language learner classrooms

This thesis aimed to investigate code switching (CS hereafter) in interactive changes between teachers and secondary EFL learners from English to Turkish in detail. The study took place in two different secondary private institutions in the city of Adana and Denizli. In accordance with this aim, three intermediate level classrooms were recorded for two class hours via video camera. The recordings were transcribed and explored in order to see whether CS practices occurred in these classes or not, if they did, how often they took place, who initiated the switches, and what functions these code switches embodied between the students and the teachers and finally if these CS practices had an important role in terms of teacher-learner interaction or not. Face to face semi-structured interviews were held with three teachers and 20 students and these interviews were analysed through content analysis. The following results have been obtained from the data: 1) both teachers and students resorted to CS; 2) teachers and students used CS while greeting, doing warm-up, using student's book, checking homework, announcing exam results, reviewing homework and a grammar topic, playing games, practicing vocabulary and a new topic, working on notebook, doing worksheet activities, assigning homework and closing-up; 3) the most frequently used type of CS was found to be inter-sentential CS; 4) teachers resorted to CS with the translation, meta-language, asking equivalence, giving instruction and classroom management purposes the most; 5) students made use of CS mainly for meta-language, giving equivalence, asking for clarification, unofficial talks and translation; 6) the results of interview analysis showed that teacher and students find CS useful for language learning; however, teachers cautiously emphasized that L1 should not replace L2 in classroom. In the light of the findings of this research, some suggestions were made to EFL teachers, teacher training institutes, and the Ministry of National Education. Keywords: Young EFL Language learners, Classroom Interaction, Code Switching, the Use of L1 in Language Learning and Teaching, EFL