Reasons for and Attitudes towards Code-Switching: A Case Study

The present study intends to explore the reasons for code switching of a group of native speakers of the Azerbaijani language. It also examines their attitudes towards the use of code switching both inside and outside the classroom. The study was carried out at three Faculties of Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU)-an English medium tertiary institution in Northern Cyprus. The study used a mixed-method research design including both qualitative and quantitative methods (questionnaire, interviews and observation) to address the research questions. It involved 101 Azerbaijani students from the undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs at the Faculties of Tourism, Communication and Media Studies, and Business Administration and Economics. A Likert-based questionnaire was administered to the participants to explore their reasons for code switching, and an interview was conducted with 16 students to examine their attitudes towards code switching. In addition, the participants from the respective faculties were observed by using a checklist. The analysis of the questionnaire reports revealed that the Azerbaijani students employed code switching for various reasons, mainly to express themselves easily. Further, in the interviews most participants expressed a positive attitude towards code switching. Furthermore, the observations showed that the Azerbaijani students applied code switching very frequently in their daily life as well as in the classroom. The participants used all types of code switching, including „intra-sentential‟ switching, and instances of code switching involved not only their native language but also the Russian and Turkish languages. Thus, the Azerbaijani students in the context of the present study frequently employed code switching from English to the Azerbaijani, Turkish and Russian languages.