Code Switching in ELT Classrooms: A Case Study

The study is done to find out the functions of code switching and attitudes towards code switching of Turkish M.A. and PhD. students and teachers in ELT classrooms. More specifically, it aims to investigate what kinds of code switching students and teachers use in classrooms and what students and teachers’ attitudes towards code switching in ELT classrooms are. The study was conducted at the department of Foreign Language Education (FLE), Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU), in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The participants of the study are, 15 M.A and PhD level Turkish ELT students in total and 3 Turkish speaking teachers who teach M.A and PhD level classes. There are 30 PhD and MA students in total who are from Turkey and North Cyprus. However, in the study 15 of them included because it was done on voluntary basis. There are 4 Turkish male and 11 Turkish female students in this study and they have been chosen according to their convenience, availability and their volunteering. These students are studying at Department of Foreign Language Education in the MA and PhD levels. 6 students are from PhD level and 9 students are from MA level. In addition to these, there are 5 Turkish speaking teachers who teach PhD and MA level classes in the Department of FLE, but only 3 of them can participate in this study because of their availability and volunteering. The mixed method was used to collect data for the study by using questionnaires for both students and teachers and semi-structured interview for instructors. This case study demonstrates that students and instructors are using code switching to Turkish for various functions. These reasons were categorized under different functions by adopting code switching model which belongs to Apple and Muysken (2006). Based on the results of the questionnaire and interview which are about functions of code switching, both students and teachers use code switching for expressive functions, poetic functions, directive functions and referential functions. On the other hand, the second questionnaire that is about attitudes of code switching, students have positive attitude while teachers have neutral attitude towards it. Keywords: code switching, functions of code switching, ELT classrooms, attitude toward code-switching